


Growing Up

by benjji2795, NukeRose



Category: The Fosters (TV 2013)
Genre: F/M, Growing Up, Jonnor Dads, M/M, parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-04-21 03:24:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4813139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benjji2795/pseuds/benjji2795, https://archiveofourown.org/users/NukeRose/pseuds/NukeRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jude and Connor's life gets turned upside down when they adopt a son.  Through the years his many antics keep Jude and Connor busy and on their toes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ages: Newborn to Four

Jude quietly stepped in the house, Connor following close behind him, carefully carrying a small bundle of blankets.  Inside that bundle of blankets was a small boy, not even fully a week old yet with bright blue eyes, fast asleep.  He was Jude and Connor’s newly adopted son, Logan Alexander Adams-Foster.

 

* * *

 

About three months ago, Jude and Connor had just finished certification to receive their fostering license and had been put in contact with a social worker from their area, Jack, and that Wednesday afternoon they were meeting him in his office.

 

“Jude, Connor,” Jack said hurriedly.  Jack was a tall, skinny man with dark brown hair that stuck up wildly in every direction.  On his face were glasses, perched crookedly on his nose and obscuring his beady eyes. His white dress shirt was haphazardly tucked into his waistline, and the collar was slightly ruffled, one corner turned up and resting against his neck.  His whole appearance gave the impression of a harried man with more to do than he could possibly handle, and his office reflected that, with files scattered everywhere on the top of his desk and seemingly random papers lying on the floor.

 

“Nice to meet you Jack,” Jude said gently. From his far too many years of experience in the system, Jude knew that social workers were often asked to do too much. And they almost always fell into two categories; there were the lazy ones who simply didn’t care and handled all their cases rapidly and carelessly, and then there were social workers like Jack, who worked themselves to death trying to do the right thing for every child under their responsibility.  His dedication to his job meant overlooking some other aspects of his life, such as his appearance or the cleanliness of his office. Those were things he just didn’t have time for.

 

“Nice to meet you too.  Now I was told that you two are looking to start fostering?” Jack asked, digging through the files on his desk until he found the one he was looking for, placing it on the top of the pile and opening it up.

 

“Yes,” Jude replied.

 

“Okay, uh-huh I see,” Jack muttered to himself, flipping through a thick notebook on his desk that Jude hadn’t noticed before. “Well guys, I only have one case right now that might be suitable for you,” Jack frowned, taking off his glasses.

 

“What’s that?” Connor questioned, speaking up for the first time since they arrived.

 

“I’ve been assigned to find a couple willing to adopt a newborn,” Jack stated.  “The biological mother is due in three months and is in jail, with no known relatives to take the baby. Since she’s a ward of the state, the child falls under our—well my responsibility.”

 

Jude looked over at his husband thoughtfully; they’d been wanting to become parents for quite some time now, but they were expecting to start with children who were significantly older, possibly around the same age Jude was when he was taken in by the Adams-Fosters.  A newborn posed an entirely different challenge and situation.

 

“What are you thinking?” Jude inquired, observing Connor’s face, eyes scrunched up, lips parted with his tongue slightly sticking out, head tilted slightly to the side.

 

“A newborn, that’s uh,” Connor paused, “that’s really different from what we had talked about.”

 

“I know it is,” Jack admitted.  “But, if I’m being honest with you two, I’m really desperate here. I’ve been trying to find someone to adopt this baby for three months, but nobody in this area wants to adopt or even foster a child that young.  You guys are my last option.  Otherwise we might be looking at putting the baby in an orphanage.”

 

Jude and Connor shared a knowing look for a moment, communicating to each other with their eyes before turning back to Jack.

 

“No, you won’t have to do that,” Jude said. “We’ll adopt the baby.”

 

So here they were, home with their newborn son. The last three months leading up to this moment had been frantic.  Connor read every parenting book he could get his hands on, and Jude was calling his moms (okay, mostly Stef) often, asking about everything they might need to take care of a newborn child.  But that hectic period was all over, and a new one was about to begin.

****

* * *

 

Logan had been with them for a week and Connor felt like he was starting to sleepwalk through every day.  The problem was that Logan didn’t sleep, at least not really. They’d put him down for bed when he was already sound asleep and an hour later, he’d be screaming at the top of his little lungs.  Rarely was it because he needed something other than to be held.  As much as Connor loved holding his son in his arms, he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since he came home and Connor was exhausted.

 

Jude wasn’t doing much better.  As a writer, Jude worked from home, so he was with Logan all day. Whenever he managed to get Logan to fall asleep, Jude would immediately collapse on the armchair in Logan’s room and go out cold. But other than a few naps during the day, Jude was doing just the same as Connor.

 

Right now Jude and Connor were currently enjoying one of the rare moments of silence in their house.  They were lying in bed, legs tangled together.  Jude was curled up into Connor’s side, arms firmly wrapped around his torso and head on his chest.  There hadn’t been much time for moments like these since they had brought Logan home.

 

“I’m so tired,” Jude mumbled sleepily.  Connor didn’t respond, so Jude looked up, finding that Connor’s eyes had fluttered shut and was snoring softly.  Jude chuckled quietly, closing his eyes and endeavoring to join Connor in sleep.  But it wasn’t to be; Jude heard sniffling start to crackle over the baby monitor on their nightstand.  Reluctantly, Jude opened his eyes, untangled himself from Connor and padded down the hall to Logan’s room. Hopefully he could get Logan before he started screeching so Connor could keep sleeping. As tired as Jude was, Jude ventured to guess that Connor was at least four times as tired.

 

“Hey buddy,” Jude whispered softly, reaching into the crib and gently picking Logan up, cradling him in his arms and placing a soft kiss to his forehead.  “You can’t sleep? Yeah, me either, not with your daddy snoring like that,” he joked.  Jude would never pass up a chance to rib Connor, even if Connor couldn’t hear him. Jude shuffled over to the rocking chair and sat down.  Jude would’ve preferred to sit on the armchair, but Logan liked the gentle motion of the rocking chair better.

 

Connor lumbered in the room as Jude sat down, taking a seat on the armchair.

 

“What are you doing in here?  Go back to bed, you need to get some sleep,” Jude instructed.

 

“I can’t sleep when you’re not there,” Connor shrugged, the motion barely visible in the moonlit room.

 

“You want to know something Logan?” Jude cooed. “Your daddy is really needy. I think you take after him in that department.”

 

“Ha,” Connor snorted.  “I don’t _think_ he takes after me, I _know_ he does.”

 

“How am I going to handle two needy boys in my house?” Jude mused. “I can hardly handle your daddy already.”

 

“Well I’m a different kind of needy,” Connor said slyly.

 

“Yeah, and with a kid, you’re only going to get needier,” Jude sighed. They were silent for a while after that. When Jude looked back down at Logan, he found his eyes had closed and he had gone back to sleep. “Oh, I think he’s finally back asleep,” Jude murmured.

 

Jude stood up and carefully walked over, laying Logan down in his crib.  Connor came over, draping an arm over Jude’s shoulder as Jude put his arm around Connor’s waist and laid his head on Connor’s shoulder.  They both gazed down in the crib.

 

“I love you,” they whispered into the crib together.

 

“Now come on, let’s get some sleep while we have the chance,” Jude urged.

 

* * *

 

 

Five and a half months and Jude and Connor’s sleeping patterns were finally starting to return to normal.  Logan had started to sleep for at least three or four consecutive hours before he would stir and start crying.

 

This morning, the whole family was in the kitchen. Jude was currently standing over the stove, making some eggs for him and Connor while Connor was crouched in front of Logan’s high chair, attempting to spoon-feed him some mushy-looking food that Connor wasn’t entirely sure what it even was.

 

“Come on buddy, open up,” Connor appealed, holding the spoon close to Logan’s mouth, which was clamped shut.  “Juuuuuuuude, help me,” he whined.

 

“One second,” Jude replied, piling the eggs on a plate, setting it on the table and then kneeling next to Connor.  “Now are you being stubborn for daddy?” Jude giggled, affectionately rubbing Logan’s head.

 

“Yes he is, that’s why I need your help,” Connor groaned.

 

“Okay, the secret is you have to make funny faces while you’re trying to feed him,” Jude explained.  “It makes him laugh so while he is, you can put the spoon in his mouth. Like this.”

 

Jude took the spoon from Connor and then proceeded to make the silliest face Connor could ever recall seeing Jude make.  His eyes were wide, eyebrows highly arched, and one corner of his mouth was turned up as his tongue stuck out from between his lips. Connor couldn’t keep from giggling and neither could Logan.  When he did, Jude deftly guided the spoon into his mouth.

 

“And there you have it,” Jude quipped, “the blueprint on how to get Logan to eat.”

 

“Thanks Jude,” Connor replied, quickly pecking him on the cheek as he took the spoon back from his hand.  “What would I do without you?”

 

“Panic, probably,” Jude teased.

 

“No I would not!” Connor protested.  “I could raise him all by myself if I had to.”

 

“Okay first of all, yes you would panic,” Jude countered. “We haven’t been apart for longer than a week since we were fifteen.  And second, you’d never have to raise him alone.  I’m not going anywhere.”

 

“I know you’re not,” Connor mumbled, avoiding making eye contact with Jude.  “But sometimes I get afraid you will.  Like maybe the stress of trying to raise a kid and deal with me at the same time gets to be too much for you and then you just take off just like my mom did.”

 

“Connor, look at me,” Jude pleaded, squatting down in front of Connor.  He put his hand under Connor’s chin, gingerly lifting his head up and staring into his eyes. “I’m never going to leave you or Logan, I promise.  How could I ever abandon the two men I love more than anything else in the world?”

 

“My mom promised she wouldn’t leave me either but she still did,” Connor answered, tears starting to roll down his cheeks.

 

“Connor,” Jude said softly, “we’ve been together for fourteen years and married for seven.  To put it bluntly, if I was going to leave you, I would’ve done it by now. But I’ve never thought about it, not even for a fraction of a second.  I love you so much and I know I joke about how you wouldn’t know what to do without me, but truthfully, I wouldn’t know what to do without you either.”

 

“I know I’m just being stupid, I’m sorry,” Connor muttered.

 

“No you’re not,” Jude argued, wrapping his arms around Connor. “Those feelings that come from being abandoned is not something that just goes away and I understand.  I really do and I’ll reassure you that I’ll be here as many times as you need me to.”

 

“I love you so fucking much,” Connor said, burying his head into Jude’s neck.

 

“I love you so much too,” Jude laughed.  “But uh, can we not swear in front of Logan. I don’t want him picking anything up.”

 

“Sorry,” Connor replied sheepishly.

 

“And speaking of Logan, we should probably finish feeding him. He gets really cranky when he’s hungry,” Jude commented.

 

“Yeah okay.”

 

* * *

 

 

Now Logan was eleven months old and was starting to eat on his own.  This night, Jude’s moms were over at Jude and Connor’s house, having dinner with them. Jude and Connor sat on either side of Logan, who was seated in his high chair at the head of the table, and Jude’s moms sat next to them.  They were all making small talk while Logan babbled all sorts of nonsense in the background.

 

“So has he said his first word yet?” Lena asked as she munched on the hamburger that Jude had made for dinner, taking note of the constant noise spewing from Logan’s mouth.

 

“No, not yet,” Jude answered.

 

“Though you’d have to think he’s close, since he never shuts up,” Connor joked.

 

“Brandon was a lot like that too,” Stef remarked.

 

“Oh really, he was?” Jude questioned.

 

“Yeah, but his first word was still something really boring. Something like ‘mama’, I don’t remember exactly,” Stef shrugged.  “We don’t know what all our other kids first words were.  Unfortunately we didn’t have the pleasure of being there for them at that point.”

 

“Though we wish we could’ve been,” Lena added.

 

“My dad has told me my first word was ‘ball’, go figure,” Connor chuckled.  “He was real proud of that.”

 

“Oh I bet he was,” Stef groaned.

 

“Da…da…DADA!” Logan squealed, and everyone turned to look at him.

 

“What did you just say buddy?” Jude asked.

 

“Dada,” Logan garbled, pointing to Jude as he spoke.

 

“It’s like we summoned his first word by talking about it,” Connor noted.

 

“He’s already growing up so fast,” Jude sniffled. Next to them, Stef grabbed Lena’s hand, laughing quietly to herself.

 

“It only gets worse from here bubba,” Lena assured Jude. “Before you know it he’ll be going off to—”

 

“No don’t say it, I’m not ready for that yet,” Jude interrupted quickly.

 

“I just want him to stay little like this forever,” Connor sighed.

 

“Welcome to what being a parent is like,” Stef reflected, patting Connor on the back.  “It’s a constant battle with yourself to let go.  But you two have a while yet before you have to worry about that. Just don’t blink.”

****

* * *

 

 

Well, they must have blinked because all of the sudden, Logan was turning four, with all the destructive capabilities of a hurricane packed into his little three foot frame.  This particular afternoon, they were chasing him around the house, trying to get him dressed to head over to Jude’s moms’ house for his fourth birthday party.

 

“He hasn’t even taken his nap yet, how does he still have this much energy?” Jude panted, slowing to a halt.  They’d been going in circles around the house for twenty minutes with no progress to show for it and Jude was severely out of breath. Connor however, hadn’t broken a sweat yet and raced past him, scooping Logan up in his arms and carrying him back to his room.

 

“Daddy!” Logan squealed, wriggling in Connor’s arms.

 

“I think you’re just out of shape,” Connor teased over Logan’s protests, which elicited a playful shove from Jude.

 

“Sorry that my job doesn’t involve me working out all the time,” Jude sassed, following Connor into the room.

 

“You say that like you think it’s a bad thing,” Connor smirked.

 

“Oh it’s not,” Jude shot back.  “It’s absolutely nothing to complain about, especially when we’re in bed.  I enjoy the view immensely.”

 

“Umm Jude,” Connor said nervously.  “Do you really think we should be talking about this in front of Logan?  He’s starting to get to the age where he might understand what we’re saying.”

 

“Mmm, you’re right,” Jude conceded.  “So _somebody_ is going to have to start watching what they say.”

 

“Hey, don’t be looking at me!” Connor protested, trying to pull Logan’s shirt down over his head.  “You’re the one that was just talking about ‘enjoying the view’!”

 

“Maybe I did, but you’re the one that started it,” Jude needled.

 

“There, finally!” Connor exclaimed in relief. “He’s all dressed, now let’s hit the road!”  Logan went tearing out of the room and Jude scowled.

 

“Great, now we have to go catch him again,” Jude sighed.

 

“No we don’t,” Connor grinned, leading Jude to the house’s front door.  “Logan! We’re going to grandmas’!”

 

“Gammas’ yay!” Logan shrieked, sprinting up to Connor and Jude.

 

“Well, good to know that he likes his grandmas better than his daddies,” Jude giggled.

 

“No I don’t!” Logan asserted, squirming as Jude tried to buckle him into his car seat.

 

“Shh, it’s okay buddy,” Jude shushed (Logan generally shouted whenever he spoke).  “That’s what grandmas are for.”

 

After that, it was a silent ride from their house to the Adams-Foster house.  They were the first ones to arrive.  The instant they were in the door, Logan was tearing off into the kitchen.

 

“Gams!  Gamma!” he screamed, disappearing around the corner.

 

“We’re hardly going to see him the rest of day, aren’t we?” Connor chortled.

 

“I think so,” Jude laughed.  “Between moms, Mariana, and Callie he’ll be busy with them all day. But you can bet he’ll love every second of the attention.”

 

“Maybe while he’s occupied, you and I should sneak off for a while,” Connor said, grinning crookedly.

 

“Connor, it’s his birthday!” Jude quipped.

 

“It’s not like he’s going to notice,” Connor whined. “Besides, it’s been two weeks!”

 

“Get used to it,” Stef commented as she walked past and Connor whimpered while Jude blushed.

 

“Mom!” Jude hissed.  He loved his moms dearly and felt comfortable talking about a lot of things with them, but his sex life with his husband was not one of those things.

 

“Hey, I’m just giving you the cold hard facts,” Stef shrugged. “But you know if you ever get too desperate, your mama and I would be happy to take him off your hands for a few hours.”

 

“Come on, we should let him stay for the night tonight,” Connor said, pressuring Jude.

 

“Might I repeat Connor, it’s his _birthday_ ,” Jude growled.

 

“Can I stay can I stay pwease dad, pwease pwease pwease!” Logan begged, tugging on the hem of Jude’s shirt.

 

“Yeah, ‘pwease dad?’” Connor joined in, giving Jude his puppy dog eyes.

 

“Sure buddy,” Jude caved. 

 

"Yay!" Logan shouted, excitedly jumping up and down.

 

“You still have some of his clothes here?” Jude added, turning to Stef.

 

“Yes love, we have it all taken care of,” Stef said dismissively, taking Logan’s hand and leading him back into the kitchen as he chattered away excitedly.  Connor turned and pressed a kiss to Jude’s jaw.

 

“Mmph, we haven’t even left yet Connor,” Jude moaned. “We still have the party, remember?”

 

“Ugh,” Connor whimpered again as Mariana and Callie walked in the front door behind them.

 

_**A/N: The rest of the party will be in the next part** _


	2. Ages 4 and 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So from this point onward, each chapter of Growing Up is going to focus on a couple of events from each year of Logan's life. I expect that the chapters will be a little shorter at first and then get longer as we hit the teenage angst phase of things. This whole story in general is going to be very different, and I think challenging. I'm really going to put my best effort into it but I can't guarantee that this while measure up to my other works just because it is so different in style. Hope you stick around and enjoy the story! (Also, sorry about the tangent that is bisexual Jesus, it's something I headcanon and I couldn't stop myself from adding it) (Also also I’m not going to beta the rest of the chapters of this fic so idk how it’s going to turn out lmao we’ll see this chapter might seem a little choppy in places but oh well)

“Hey Jude, Connor!” Mariana squealed, reaching over to hug them both.  “It’s great to see you!  Now where is my favorite nephew?”

 

“Kitchen,” Jude replied simply.  “You’re going to have to wrestle his attention away from moms though.”

 

“Oh I think I’m up to that challenge,” Mariana said coolly, breezing past them into the kitchen.

 

“Hey guys,” Callie greeted them.  “How’s it going?”

 

“Hectic,” Connor sighed.  “He’s a little whirlwind.  This one’s always exhausted from chasing him by the time I get home,” he added, pointing to Jude.

 

“Well, you’ve only got less than a year before—”

 

“Ah, don’t go there,” Jude warned.  “I’m not ready to think about that.”

 

“Aww, look at my baby brother,” Callie cooed.

 

“Yeah, yeah whatever, I’m all grown up blah blah blah,” Jude said dismissively.  Before Callie could protest the way Jude brushed her comment off, the front door opened behind them and two men stepped in.  One of them was Jesus, and the other was a guy that none of them had ever seen before.

 

“Jesus,” Jude spoke, giving him a small wave.

 

“Uncle Zeus!” Logan screamed as soon as he heard the name, sprinting from the kitchen and hugging his legs tightly.  Jesus put his arms around the little boy, picking him up as he squealed in delight.  “Who’s that?” Logan asked, pointing to the other man standing in the foyer with them.

 

“Looks like he inherited your bluntness, Jesus,” the man chuckled.

 

“Oh shut up Ryan, he’s four,” Jesus retorted.  “All little kids are blunt.”

 

“Yeah, you just never grew out of it,” Ryan countered with a giggle.

 

“You want to tell us who Ryan is?” Lena asked, appearing from the kitchen with Stef close behind her.

 

“Um,” Jesus stammered nervously, handing Logan over to Callie.  Ryan immediately stepped over to Jesus’ side, grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently.  “I’m bisexual and Ryan is my boyfriend,” Jesus mumbled, staring at his feet as he spoke.

 

“So you’re like daddies?” Logan questioned, looking back and forth between Jesus and Ryan.

 

“Yeah,” Jesus answered softly.

 

“Cool,” Logan replied.

 

“Congratulations Jesus,” Lena said, stepping forward and drawing the two into a hug.

 

“Well here it is, the one thing that could steal the spotlight from Logan on his birthday,” Jude whispered to Connor who laughed.

 

“I’m offended that you didn’t tell me first,” Mariana huffed.  “I’m your freaking twin!”

 

“I was scared okay,” Jesus admitted.

 

“I swear to God, Jesus,” Mariana spoke, rolling her eyes.  “You grew up with two moms and a gay brother and you were scared to come out as bisexual.”

 

“Told you,” Ryan muttered under his breath.

 

“Hey!  You’re supposed to be on my side, not theirs!” Jesus protested.

 

“Anyway,” Stef cut in to stop them before they started bicker.  “Can we all keep in mind why we’re here in the first place?  But that aside, it’s nice to meet you Ryan.  I see you’ve already met the birthday boy.”

 

“Yes I did,” Ryan smiled, crouching down to Logan’s height (Callie had already put him down since she couldn’t hold him up for very long; he was getting too big for that).  “And how old is the birthday boy?”

 

Logan held up four fingers, shyly backing up towards Jude and grabbing his leg when he was close enough.

 

“It’s not you,” Connor assured him.  “He’s shy with anyone he hasn’t met before.”

 

“Well it looks like we have everyone except—”

 

“Sorry I’m late,” Brandon gasped, stumbling in the door and knocking into Ryan.  “Hey Ryan, what are you doing here?”

 

“Ryan is Jesus’ boyfriend,” Mariana interjected.

 

“I knew it!” Brandon screeched.

 

“Now that Brandon is here, the party can start!” Stef shouted over him, trying to avoid yet another argument from gaining any momentum.

 

“Pwesents!” Logan shrieked, glancing at the pile of wrapped items in the living room, running over and grabbing one.

 

“Woah buddy,” Jude said, scooping Logan up as Connor pulled the box from his hands.  “It’s not time for that yet.”

 

“But dad, I wanna open pwesents!” Logan yelled, squirming in his dad’s arms.

 

“Oh come on Jude, don’t be a stick in the mud,” Mariana goaded.

 

“It is _his_ birthday after all,” Jesus added.

 

“Okay fine,” Jude groaned, sitting down with Logan on his lap as Connor handed him back the present he grabbed from him.

 

* * *

 

Fifteen minutes and a ton of wrapping paper later, Logan had opened all of his presents and had been adequately spoiled by his grandmas, aunts, uncles, and dads.  He’d received pretty much every toy he had told his dads that he wanted, plus a few other things he hadn’t known that he wanted.  Now, the whole family was congregated around the kitchen table, having cake.  Logan was quiet as he kept stuffing more cake in his mouth, so without that distraction, the conversation shifted back to Jesus and Ryan.

 

“Dude, why didn’t you just tell me when I saw you guys?” Brandon inquired.

 

“I wasn’t ready yet,” Jesus explained.

 

“What was there to be ready for?” Lena mused.  “In this family especially, you should know that we all love you no matter what.”

 

“It’s—it’s just hard to explain okay?”

 

“It’ll be harder to explain when you tell them how long you waited,” Ryan murmured.  Nobody heard him because the table had gone into an uproar when Mariana asked Jesus how long they’d been dating.

 

“A year and a half,” Jesus mumbled.  Mariana hit him, which made Logan explode with laughter, spitting half eaten cake everywhere.

 

“You know Logan,” Connor said as he wiped cake and frosting off from around his mouth as the conversation at the table erupted around them.  “If you ever like another boy, you don’t have to be afraid to tell us, okay?”

 

“Okay daddy,” Logan garbled, his mouth still full of food.

 

“No need to rush into that though,” Jude continued, glaring at Connor.  “You’re only four.”

 

“Hey, I was just throwing it out there,” Connor shrugged.  “Now is the time to start affirming those things to him.”

 

“I know, I know,” Jude grumbled, ignoring the chaos that was going on around them.  “But acknowledging that mean I have to acknowledge that he’s growing up and I just don’t like thinking about that.”

 

“It’s going to happen sooner rather than later Jude,” Connor said, grabbing Jude’s hand and rubbing it gently with his thumb.

 

“Good thing I have you,” Jude smiled at his husband.  “It might be too hard for me to let go without you.”

 

“I’m not wishing him older, I’m just preparing for the inevitable,” Connor conceded, leaning in and pecking Jude on the lips.

 

“Ewww!” Logan screamed as they pulled away.

 

* * *

 

 

Time was flying by too fast for Jude.  Before he knew it, it was time for Logan was five and getting ready for his first day of kindergarten.  Connor was in Logan’s room, struggling to get him dressed while Jude was in the kitchen, making breakfast and trying not to cry.

 

“So, you excited for your first day of school?” Connor asked while trying to force his arms into the sleeves of the plaid button-up Connor had picked out of his closet.

 

“Yep!” Logan chirped, nodding his head vigorously.

 

“You excited to make new friends?” Connor continued.

 

“Maybe,” Logan answered, less enthusiastic than before.

 

“Don’t be nervous bud.  All the other kids are going to love you,” Connor assured him, patting him on the shoulders as he finished button up Logan’s shirt.  “Okay, all set.  Now let’s get some breakfast.”

 

They wandered into the kitchen where Jude was sitting at the table, a mug of coffee in his hand and a rather large book in front of his face.

 

“Morning babe,” Connor cooed, lowering the book and pecking Jude on the lips.

 

“Yuck!” Logan shrieked.

 

“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it,” Connor smirked, pecking Jude again.

 

“Connor!” Jude exclaimed, smacking Connor on the arm.  “He’s five, you shouldn’t be encouraging anything like that.  Besides, let’s not forget he could be asexual and not like kissing anyone.  And really, did you have to put him in plaid?  Seriously Connor, you have a problem.”

 

“Say the one who keeps letting me buy plaid shirts,” Connor retorted.

 

“Hey Dad, why are your eyes so red?” Logan asked, looking at Jude curiously.

 

“It’s because he’s a vampire,” Connor joked.

 

“What’s a vampire?”

 

“Vampires are imaginary creatures that live off of other people’s blood,” Connor explained casually.

 

“Eww!” Logan said, his face scrunching up in disgust.

 

“Anyway,” Jude interjected, glaring at Connor, “I’m fine buddy, it’s nothing to worry about.  Now we need to get going so you can get on the bus.”

 

Logan hopped off his chair and raced to the front door, with Jude and Connor trailing slowly behind them.

 

“You going to be okay?” Connor inquired, grabbing Jude’s hand.

 

“We’ll see,” Jude sniffled, intertwining his fingers with Connor’s as he grabbed Logan’s hand with his other hand.  They arrived just when the bus pulled up.  Jude crouched down in front of Logan.  “You have fun today buddy, okay?  And be good for your teachers, and make lots of friends.”

 

“Okay dad, I will,” Logan replied.

 

“We love you,” Connor said, joining Jude in his crouch as they both hugged Logan tightly.

 

“I love you too daddies,” Logan answered, giving Jude and Connor both a peck on the cheek before squirming out of their grasp and bounding up the steps into the bus.  Jude waved until the bus rolled out of sight, at which point he turned to Connor and buried his head into his neck and bawled like a small child.

 

“He’s growing up so fast Connor,” Jude blubbered as Connor held him tightly, rubbing his back gently.

 

“I know Jude, I know,” Connor responded.

 

“Make it stop!” Jude exclaimed.

 

“I wish I could,” Connor sighed.  “But this is just the way it’s going to be for the rest of his life.  Now we need to walk back to the house, I still have to go to work.”  Jude pulled his head up, nodding and taking a deep breath as he rubbed his eyes.  They turned to walk back and Connor put his arm around Jude’s waist and Jude leaned his head onto Connor’s shoulder, stray tears still falling from his eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

Jude was out waiting at the bus stop an hour before the bus was supposed to drop Logan off.  Connor wasn’t there to stop him and he just couldn’t think of anything else to do.  Finally, the yellow vehicle pulled up and Logan hopped off.

 

“Hey buddy!” Jude called.  Logan ran over into his dad’s open arms, giving him a hug.

 

“Hi dad,” he said.

 

“How was your day?” Jude questioned as he took Logan’s hand, walking him back to the house.

 

“Good,” Logan grinned.  “I made lots of new friends, just like you told me to!”

 

“That’s great buddy!” Jude said, ruffling his hair as he sat down at the kitchen table.  “Tell me about them.”

 

“Well there’s this boy, Tommy who really like the swings like me,” Logan started to spout rapidly.  “And there was this girl, Andrea who shared her toys with me—”

 

Logan was interrupted by the front door shutting, as Connor came home from work.

 

“Hey Logan!  Hey Jude!” Connor chirped, pecking Jude on the lips as he walked into the kitchen, before turning to give Logan a hug.  “How was your first day?”

 

“He was just telling me about it,” Jude explained.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry for interrupting, please continue,” Connor urged, sitting down at the table across from Logan.

 

“The teacher is really nice too,” Logan continued.  “And there are all these really cool toys and—and I don’t know it was just really fun.”

 

“Well I’m really happy to hear that buddy.  You excited to go back tomorrow?” Jude asked.  Logan nodded rapidly.

 

* * *

 

 

Time kept racing by.  Jude blinked and it was the middle of November.  Logan loved kindergarten and Jude was glad about that, but he was still struggling to occupy himself without Logan constantly running around the house.  Every day had pretty much turned into a waiting game, waiting for when it was time to go pick Logan up at the bus stop.  Even when he was home, a lot of the time, Logan was busy playing with his friend from school, Tommy, who happened to live just two houses down.  Today was different though.  Logan as usual, made a beeline straight for Jude, but instead of his normal greeting, he immediately blurted out a question.

 

“Can I stay over at Tommy’s tonight?” he asked.  Jude paused for a moment, processing the request.

 

“Is it okay with his parents?”

 

Logan shrugged as Tommy came trotting up next to him.

 

“Well, let’s go over to his house and we can see, okay?” Jude conceded.

 

“Okay!” Logan cheered, grabbing Tommy’s arm and dragging him along as Jude held his other hand.

 

“Tommy?  Is that you?” A woman’s voice inquired when they walked in the door.

 

“Hi mom!” Tommy yelled.

 

“I wasn’t expecting you,” she replied, stepping out into the living room.  “I thought you were going over to Logan—oh hi, you must be Logan’s dad.”

 

Tommy’s mom was a medium height woman with long blonde hair.  Jude had to do a double take when he looked at her, because she reminded him so much of Stef.

 

“Yeah I am.  Well, one of them anyway.  He has two dads.  I’m dad and my husband, Connor, is daddy,” Jude explained.

 

“Huh, well then I guess we won’t have to worry about that,” she muttered under her breath.

 

“Worry about what?” Jude wondered.

 

“It’s always a concern for my wife and I, meeting Tommy’s friend’s parents,” she clarified.

 

“Oh I see,” Jude chuckled.  “Yeah, you won’t have to worry about that.  I’m Jude, by the way.”

 

“I’m Julie,” she said, shaking Jude’s hand.  “So what brings you over here this afternoon?”

 

“Logan asked if he could spend the night here,” Jude shrugged.  “I told him I needed to check with you first.”

 

“It’s about time,” Julie chortled.  “Tommy’s been talking about inviting Logan over almost since the first day of school.”

 

“So I take it you’re all set to have him over,” Jude mused, and Julie nodded in reply.  “Okay, well I’ll go grab some stuff for him and bring it back.”

 

Jude had already dropped off the stuff for Logan by the time Connor came home.

 

“Hey Jude!  Hey—hey, where’s Logan?”

 

“Logan’s spending the night at Tommy’s,” Jude explained simply.

 

“Oh,” Connor replied.  “How did his parents take finding out he had two dads?”

 

“Considering Tommy has two moms, I’d say just fine,” Jude chortled.

 

“Yeah, I’d imagine they would,” Connor remarked, joining Jude in laughing.

 

“We should invite them over for dinner soon,” Jude commented.  “You always say we should be looking for couple friends and considering that Logan and Tommy are practically inseparable, they might be a good place to start.”

 

“Yeah,” Connor said absentmindedly.  “So anyway, we have the whole house to ourselves tonight?”

 

“Yes we do,” Jude smirked.  Without another word, Connor stood up and closed the gap between them, capturing Jude’s lips in a passionate kiss.

 

“Someone’s feeling a little needy huh?” Jude teased.

 

“Tell me you’re not a little desperate too,” Connor argued.  “We haven’t sent Logan to your moms’ in almost a month.”

 

“You know, he’s starting to get old enough that as long as we’re quiet, he doesn’t have to be out of the house,” Jude countered in between kisses.

 

“Like you know how to be quiet,” Connor retorted, making Jude blush as he pushed Connor back towards their bedroom.

 

* * *

 

Jude’s phone rang at 12:30 AM.  He picked it up, squinting at the bright screen which displayed a number he didn’t recognize.

 

“Hello?” he grumbled sleepily.

 

“Dad?” Logan answered.  Jude bolting upright, which made Connor stir.  Jude reached over, turning on the lamp on his night stand.  Connor turned to look at him curiously, and Jude mouthed _Logan_ in reply, making Connor sit up with Jude.

 

“Hey buddy, what’s going on?” Jude asked gently.

 

“I’m scared Dad, can you come bring me home?” Logan questioned timidly.

 

“Yeah, sure buddy.  Daddy and I will be over there soon.  Love you,” Jude replied.

 

“Love you too,” Logan responded, and then hung up.

 

“He’s scared,” Jude stated.

 

“I figured, but why did you tell him I was coming?” Connor groaned, shoving his face into the pillows.

 

“I’m not walking over there in the dark by myself.”

 

“You seemed to have no problem doing it before,” Connor snickered.

 

“My mom had just got shot!” Jude exclaimed rolling his eyes as he climbed out of bed and started to put some clothes on.  “Besides, I felt really bad that I wanted to leave and anyway, that was almost twenty years ago, I think it’s time to let go.”

 

“I’m not going to let it go,” Connor retorted.  “That sleepover was a special night for me.  It’s when I first realized I liked you.”

 

“You are such a sap,” Jude shot back.

 

“You know you love it,” Connor quipped.  “Now let’s go get Logan.”

 

* * *

 

 

When they arrived, Logan was already in tears.  As far as Jude could tell, Tommy was still asleep, which was better for Logan (but might make for an interesting morning for Tommy).  As soon as they stepped in the door, Logan threw himself at Connor (he always went to Connor for comfort when he was sad, something Jude didn’t blame Logan for one bit; Jude did the same thing).

 

“Shh, it’s okay bud,” Connor whispered, holding Logan tightly.

 

“I’m really sorry about this,” Jude muttered to Julie, quietly enough that Logan couldn’t hear him.

 

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all,” Julie assured him.  “I seem to remember that I didn’t make through the night of my first sleepover either.”

 

“You think Tommy will be okay?”

 

“Yeah, we’ll figure it out,” Julie shrugged.

 

“Well I’m sure we’ll see you tomorrow at some point,” Jude said.  Logan was already draped over Connor’s shoulder, his cries quieting as he started to drift off.  They walked back and put Logan to bed before returning to theirs.

 

“It’s nice to know that he still needs us,” Jude sighed.

 

“Of course he still needs us,” Connor mumbled, turning on his side and propping himself up on his elbows.  “He’s only five and a half.”

 

“I know, it’s just—I don’t know, he doesn’t need me to take care of him like he used to,” Jude muttered.

 

“That’s just the way it is Jude,” Connor answered, taking Jude into his arms and embracing him tightly.  “Kids are supposed to grow up and not need their parents.  There’s eventually going to be a day when he won’t need us to take care of him at all.  But no matter what, know that I’ll always need you to take care of me,” he added, kissing Jude softly.

 

“How did I end up with someone so cheesy as my husband?” Jude teased.

 

“You really need to stop asking questions like that,” Connor said seriously.  “Since you _know_ you love it.”

 

“I admit to nothing except loving you,” Jude quipped.

 

“Close enough,” Connor giggled.

 

“Hey daddies?” Logan whispered into the quiet room.

 

“Yeah?” Connor replied.

 

“Can I—can I sleep here tonight?” Logan inquired sheepishly.

 

“Sure,” Connor answered before Jude could say anything.  Any other night, Jude would’ve glared at Connor and scolded him, saying that Logan was old enough that he needed to learn to stay in his own bed all night.  But Jude didn’t care about that tonight.  Logan hopped up and settled down in between them.

 

“Night buddy, I love you,” Jude murmured, placing a kiss on Logan’s forehead.  Logan’s eyes had already fluttered shut.

 

“Night—love you,” he mumbled before he fell asleep, curling up into Jude.  How Jude wished and pleaded that he could freeze time and live in that moment forever.


	3. Age 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took me so long to write and post...I was feeling the writer's block on this chapter big time. So I just sat down today and churned this out. I haven't re-read it really and it hasn't been beta-ed, I just need to get this update out there. Sorry if it sucks, I promise next chapter (age 7) will be better (they're going on a camping trip with the Adams-Fosters).

Jude was starting to find that time had a habit of not listening to him, because it seemed like when Jude woke up the next morning, it was already spring.  School was only a few weeks from getting out and Logan had just turned six a couple of weeks ago.  On this particular night, Jude, Connor and Logan were all sitting at the table eating dinner when Logan piped up.

 

“Hey dad, can you teach me how to play baseball?”

 

Jude choked on the food in his mouth, turning to glare at Connor, who in turn looked mystified by Logan’s out-of-the blue question.

 

“Did daddy put you up to this?” Jude asked once he wasn’t hacking his lungs out and regained control of his breathing.

 

“Hey don’t look at me!” Connor protested, throwing up his hands in surrender.

 

“No daddy didn’t tell me anything,” Logan answered. “Tommy is going to play teeball and I want to play with him.”

 

“Well then, I’m sure daddy can teach you. He used to play baseball,” Jude replied, going back to eating his instant mashed potatoes.

 

“Yeah, like eighteen years ago!” Connor countered.  “I stopped playing in middle school once my dad finally stopped forcing me to play.”

 

“In that case we can ask Adam to teach him,” Jude suggested nonchalantly.

 

When Connor didn’t respond, Jude looked up to find Connor silently gaping at him.

 

“Dad, can I be excused?” Logan questioned before Jude could act to snap Connor out of it.

 

“Yes buddy, just put your dishes in the sink,” Jude instructed.  When he turned back to Connor, once Logan had left the dining room, Connor’s mouth was still hanging open.  Jude was surprised by Connor’s reaction to mentioning his dad.  It’s not like Logan hadn’t ever met or spent time with his grandfather. In fact, Logan seemed to like Adam a lot, and Adam seemed to be very fond of Logan.

 

“You trying to catch flies with your mouth?” Jude sassed at his stunned husband.

 

“I’m just trying to understand,” Connor responded slowly, his mouth finally jerking shut.  “You want to willingly subject Logan to my dad?”

 

“You say that like they’ve never spent time together,” Jude sighed.  “And besides, Connor, you know Adam has changed.  How much longer are you going to hold onto the image you have of him from when we were teenagers?”

 

“As long as it takes for him to apologize for how badly he messed me up,” Connor growled.

 

“Messed you up?” Jude raised an eyebrow. “I beg to differ with that statement. How did he mess you up? He raised you to be the boy I fell in love with.”

 

“No he didn’t!” Connor argued. “I was everything you fell in love with was _despite_ him, not _because_ of him!”

 

“You say you want an apology, but how many times have you actually talked to your dad since we went off to college? I haven’t seen you call him and whenever we’ve gone over there you’ve avoided him,” Jude challenged Connor. Connor stared down his husband, shifting his jaw, contemplating how he _didn’t_ want to answer the question and prove the point Jude was trying to make.

 

“That’s what I thought. And whatever the case may be about what your dad did or didn’t do to you, being a grandpa is different from being a father,” Jude countered calmly.  “Logan wants to learn how to play baseball and your dad knows how to teach him. He’s only going to be there for a few hours so whatever it is you’re worried about your dad doing to him shouldn’t be a consideration.”

 

“But Jude—”

 

“Besides, you and I will be right there Connor,” Jude continued to reason, moving to stand next to Connor and placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.  “If your dad does something that bothers you or I, then we can always step in.”

 

“Are you really sure this is a good idea?”

 

“Yes.  It’s going to be fine Connor, I promise,” Jude said, placing a gentle kiss on Connor’s lips.  He grabbed Connor’s hand and laced their fingers together, leading him into the living room where Logan was seated in front of the TV.

 

“Buddy?” Jude said, getting Logan’s attention.

 

“Yeah dad?”

 

“Your grandpa is going to teach you how to play baseball, okay?” Jude explained while Connor breathed deeply beside him, trying to keep his expression neutral.

 

“Okay!” Logan grinned, bouncing on the couch excitedly.  “Can I go over and tell Tommy?”

 

“Sure,” Jude replied. Logan stood up and bounced out the already open front door, taking a left and sprinting through their neighbor’s yard to Tommy’s house.

 

“Look at him,” Jude sighed. “That’s why we’re letting your dad do this.”

 

“Yeah,” Connor frowned. “I guess I better keep up my end of the deal.”

 

 

“Hey dad,” Connor said hesitantly, his phone pressed to his ear.

 

“Hi Connor,” Adam responded gruffly. Connor ran a hand through his hair; this was going to be harder than he thought, since he hadn’t had a real conversation with his father in sixteen years.

 

“Um dad, I have a question,” stammered Connor weakly.

 

“Well shoot then,” Adam urged. Connor flinched at the word “shoot.” Guns and everything related was still a touchy subject, even though the incident was nearly nineteen years ago.

 

“Logan wants to learn how to play baseball,” Connor outlined and then paused for a moment.

 

“That’s good for him,” Adam replied dismissively.  “But I don’t see what that has to do with me.”

 

“Jude and I—well we decided that we would like for you to teach him since neither of us think we can,” Connor spit out rapidly.

 

“Alright,” Adam said. “Bring him over Saturday,” he commanded and then hung up.

 

“Same old, same old,” Connor scoffed, shaking his head ruefully as he settled down on the couch next to Jude.

 

“Con, that was one thirty second phone conversation.  You can’t get anything definitive from that.”

 

“I’m just keeping my expectations low,” Connor sighed.  “I would rather not be disappointed.”

 

“I know what you think of him, and you’re just wrong Connor,” Jude challenged.

 

“How would you know that?” Connor retorted.

 

“Because—” Jude said hesitantly. “Because he used to come over here and help me when Logan was still young.”

 

“He what?!” Connor exclaimed.

 

“There were times where I was just overwhelmed and needed help and I didn’t want to call my moms all the time, so one day I called Adam just to see if he would consider it,” Jude explained calmly.

 

“And he actually did?” Connor questioned, surprise written all over his face.

 

“Yeah,” Jude nodded. “I learned a lot about him, and I really mean it when I say he’s not the guy he used to be.  Do you trust me?”

 

Connor nodded in agreement.

 

“Then please Con, just give him a chance,” Jude pleaded.

 

“I—alright fine,” Connor conceded reluctantly.

 

“Thanks Con,” Jude said as he snuggled into Connor’s side, placing a gentle kiss on his temple.

 

 

On Saturday, Logan was so excited he could barely sit still on the whole ride over.  As soon as Jude opened the car door for him, he was running to the front door, repeatedly ringing the doorbell until Adam answered.

 

“Hey Logan,” he said with a smile, patting Logan’s back as he tightly embraced his leg.  From his place a few steps back, Connor couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes.  Despite the smile, his dad wouldn’t even give his six-year-old grandson a proper hug. From all that Connor had seen so far, there was nothing different about the man standing in front of him from the man he knew fourteen years ago.

 

“Son,” Adam greeted him flatly.

 

“Dad,” Connor replied, his voice equally emotionless.

 

“Hi Adam,” Jude hailed, leaning over and giving Adam a brief hug.

 

“It’s good to see you again Jude,” Adam responded with such emotion that Connor felt his jaw dropping. Then he knelt down and gave Logan an actual hug. “You ready to learn how to play baseball?” Adam asked.

 

“Uh-huh Grandpa!” Logan answered excitedly, nodding his head rapidly.

 

“Okay, well come on then,” Adam spoke, putting a hand on Logan’s shoulder and leading him into the house. Connor, on the other hand, stood rooted to the spot.  He was shocked and stunned; his dad had just shown more emotion in one minute than he had in the five years Connor spent with him as a teenager.

 

“People can change Connor, I’ve seen it. It’s been fourteen years,” Jude said, putting a hand on his husband’s shoulder.  “You ever think that he treats you the same way he always did because you’ve never given him the chance to show you a different side of himself?”

 

Jude was right, just like he usually was. It was hard to doubt, simply from what Jude told him and by the way he greeted them that his dad cared a lot for Jude and Logan.  Which meant that Connor’s own stubbornness was the source of the wall that stood between him and his dad.  Jude took his hand and led him through the house, into the backyard where Adam had already launched into teaching Logan.

 

Adam was on his knees in front of Logan, with a bat in his hands as he demonstrated just how to hold it. His expression was soft and his tone was gentle, in contrast to the harsh, gruff tone Connor had grown used to hearing from him.  Connor didn’t—couldn’t take his eyes off the two of them as Jude guided him to the picnic table that sat in the backyard.

 

Connor instinctively sat so that there was space between him and Jude.  Jude sighed and placed his hand on Connor’s thigh as he scooted closer.

 

“Sorry,” Connor mumbled, stiffly laying his head on Jude’s shoulder, feeling some anger for his dad bubbling up. Connor hated how his dad was still making him feel uncomfortable about his relationship.  And it was worse this time because Jude wasn’t his boyfriend; Jude was his husband and had been for almost thirteen years. But the anger that he was feeling dissipated almost instantly when his dad looked over at him and smiled.

 

“Just a second bud,” Connor heard Adam say to Logan, giving the small boy a pat on the shoulder as he made his way over to them.  Logan trotted over behind him, running up to Jude and eagerly demonstrating what little Adam had taught him.

 

“I’m really sorry son,” Adam apologized quietly, staring off into the distance as he spoke.

 

“I—”

 

“Can I finish first?” Adam pleaded. Connor nodded hesitantly. “I know there isn’t much I can say that will make up for how awful I must have made growing up for you. But I learned what I did wrong, and those are mistakes I won’t make again.  Connor, I really don’t want to miss out on your family and on being a grandfather and I just—I hope you can forgive me.”

 

“I don’t know that I’m ready to forgive you just yet,” Connor explained.  “But I think I’m willing to try.”

 

“That’s all I ask,” Adam said softly.

 

Connor, who by now was crying, threw his arms around his dad.  Adam didn’t hesitate to return the gesture, hugging back his son tightly.

 

“I missed you dad,” Connor cried.

 

“I missed you too son,” Adam replied, rubbing Connor’s back soothingly as Jude looked on with a grin.

 

“ _Thank you_ ,” Adam mouthed.  Jude nodded, giving Adam a thumbs up in approval.

 

 

“I’m nervous about my dad coming to Logan’s first game,” Connor murmured as he and Jude got ready in their room on the morning of the game.  Things between Connor and Adam had been much improved since that day in the backyard, but years of memories were hard to erase.

 

“You think he’s going to scream at Logan or something?” Jude chuckled.  Adam doing such a thing was almost unthinkable to Jude.

 

“That’s what he always did at my games,” Connor answered.

 

“Connor,” Jude said, placing his hands on Connor’s shoulders and looking him in the eye.  “It’s not going to happen, I can promise you that.”

 

“I know it’s not, Jude, I just—it’s hard to explain,” Connor sighed and then paused for a moment before continuing. “How can you let go of the past so easily?  I can’t seem to get past everything that my dad did to me but you have so much worse in your past that you’ve been over for years.”

 

“I don’t know that I’m over some of the things that happened,” Jude responded.  “The difference is that the people who did those horrible things to me are out of the picture.  Your dad is not. It’s going to take time Connor. I understand that, and I think your dad does too.”

 

“I know, I just feel like I’m under pressure to move on,” Connor admitted.

 

“You’re not Con, okay?” Jude said, drawing Connor into his arms.  “Now go get Logan up.  I’m sure he would rather not be late for his first game.”

 

Connor trudged down the hall into Logan’s room, finding him and Tommy cuddled up, asleep in his bed. Connor chuckled at the boys. He didn’t know that Tommy had come over, but then again, they were all very lax about the rules, so he wasn’t that surprised.  It wasn’t the first morning they’d been shocked to find Tommy over in the morning. He and Jude had been guilty, more than once, of just assuming that Logan was over at Tommy’s when they couldn’t find him in the house, and Tommy’s moms had admitted to doing the same. They lived in a small, gated community though, and it wasn’t like Logan or Tommy was ever in any danger. If they really needed to know where either boy was, they could call.

 

Logan had his head on Tommy’s chest and Tommy had his arms around Logan.  Looking at them, they very closely mimicked how he and Jude cuddled together, though Connor knew there was a much greater innocence to the gesture for the younger boys. Watching them, Connor wondered if this was what he and Jude would’ve been like if they had met at Logan’s age.

 

“Tommy came over last night huh?” Jude giggled as he stepped up beside Connor.

 

“Nah, that just some strange boy in the same bed as our son,” Connor sassed.

 

“It took thirteen years but it looks like some of my sarcasm is finally rubbing off on you,” Jude chortled.

 

“Do you think this is what we would’ve been like?” Connor questioned.

 

“Mmm?”

 

“Would we have been like this if we met at their age?”

 

“I’d like to think so,” Jude mused.

 

“Then I’m just thinking, and I know that they’re only six,” Connor hesitantly remarked.  “But should we let them do this?”

 

“You’re right Con, they’re only six,” Jude agreed.  “So let’s not make them grow up so fast.  Their intentions are still innocent and are going to be for a long time yet.”

 

“But what if someday—”

 

“Let’s worry about someday when someday comes.  And if you ask me, Tommy and Logan are probably going to end up seeing each other as brothers; so I don’t see that happening.  Now go ahead and wake them up.”

 

 

Eventually they got to the diamond for the game, but with only five minutes to spare.  Logan and Tommy leapt out of the car and sprinted to the dugout while Connor and Jude strolled into the bleachers, sitting down next to Adam who was already waiting for them.

 

“Took you two long enough,” Adam chuckled.

 

“We would’ve been here sooner, but unfortunately Logan inherited Jude’s morning grumpiness,” Connor explained.

 

Jude opened his mouth to protest but the game started and Logan trotted out to the plate.

 

“Alright, let’s go buddy!” Jude cheered as Adam and Connor clapped encouragingly.  The umpire set the ball up on the tee and Logan took his batting stance just as Adam had taught him, cocking the bat over his shoulder. He swung as hard as he could, spinning around as he made contact with the ball and sending it high into the air. Logan’s head swiveled around, standing in place despite his coaches urging him to run, confused as to where the ball went, having swung so hard that he hadn’t see the bat make contact.

 

It wasn’t long before he found out, the ball falling out of the sky directly onto his head.

 

“Owww!” Logan yelped, clutching his head as the coach came out of the dugout.  Jude and Connor were on their feet about to run down there when Adam stopped them.

 

“Guys, give him a minute before you run down there,” Adam advised.

 

“Dad, he got hurt!” Connor protested, already suspicious of his dad and on the defense quickly.

 

“Did he really?” Adam questioned, quirking his head towards the field where Logan had set up in the batter’s box again.

 

“Oh I—I guess not,” Connor mumbled.

 

“Look, I know you don’t think much of me as parent—”

 

“Ha, you got that right,” Connor snorted.

 

“But you can’t always come to his rescue. He needs to learn how to get back on his feet by himself,” Adam continued, ignoring Connor.  Connor felt a hand on his shoulder.

 

“He’s right,” Jude whispered. Just then, there was a solid ping as Logan hit the ball, sprinting down the first base line and arriving safely with a single.

 

“Yeah, way to go!” Jude yelled excitedly. Connor looked at his dad who just smiled at him, and Connor found himself returning it.  Maybe his dad did know a thing or two.


	4. Age 7 - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I was originally planning to do just one chapter per year, but this chapter was getting away from me...it's almost 4,000 words and I have a lot more to cover in the chapter, so I'm splitting it up. I hope you enjoy this, and I really hope I got my portrayal of a seven year old pretty close. :)

“Logan!” Jude shouted from the base of the steps.  “Buddy, you need to come downstairs so we can get going!”

 

“No!” was the sharp reply from Logan.  Jude groaned, running a hand through his hair as he trudged up the stairs.  He was very frustrated, considering he and Connor had had been going to battle with Logan over this trip all week.

 

“Logan, you have to come,” Jude said flatly as he entered Logan’s room.  It was time to leave and he’d had enough of Logan’s attitude.

 

“I don’t wanna!” Logan answered, crossing his arms as he angrily plopped down on the edge of his bed.

 

“We’ve already been over this,” Jude sighed, sitting down next to the boy.  “Tommy can’t come with us.  He needs to be with his family, just like you need to be with yours.”

 

“But why dad?” Logan whined. “Tommy wants to come with us!”

 

“I know, but sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to.”

 

“Ugh,” Logan huffed dramatically, his eyes narrowing back into a scowl.

 

“Look, your grandmas’ have put a lot of work in getting this camping trip together.  Do you really want to disappoint them by not coming?” Jude asked as Connor lumbered into the room, breathless from having just finished packing up their car.

 

“Yeah, and besides, aren’t you excited to see all your aunts and uncles and cousins?” Connor added. Logan looked up at Connor, pondering his question for a moment before reluctantly nodding his head.

 

“Okay then sport, let’s go,” Connor directed, patting Logan on the back as he hopped off the bed and stomped down the stairs, still angry despite having relented about going. Connor stopped Jude, quickly pulling him in for a hug before following Logan out to the car.

* * *

 

“Who knew that separating them for even a few days was going to be so difficult?” Connor mused as they drove to the campground.  They were two and a half hours into the three-hour drive and Logan was sound asleep in the back and had been for at least forty-five minutes, so Connor decided it was safe to have this conversation now.

 

“Yeah…I’m worried that they’re spending too much time together.  I mean—they’re not making any other friends, Connor,” Jude remarked, his expression contorted by worry.

 

“I understand Jude, but you say that and yet, I seem to remember that you didn’t make any friends other than me until we went to college,” Connor chided, giving Jude a slight side-eye look.

 

“Yeah, but you weren’t _just_ my best friend, you were also my boyfriend!” Jude protested.

 

“You still could’ve made other friends,” Connor shrugged.

 

“I didn’t make other friends because I didn’t want to,” Jude explained.  “I didn’t want to have to share my time with you any more than I had to.”

 

“Maybe Logan doesn’t want to either for the same reason,” Connor suggested.

 

“Connor, you’re not implying that Logan might—”

 

“It’s at least a possibility Jude.”

 

Connor knew he was just a little crazy for implying that, but if boys and girls were supposed to feel things like that for each other at Logan’s age, then it made sense that boys could feel the same way about other boys too.

 

“Logan’s only seven!” Jude exclaimed.  There was a rustling in the back and they both froze, thinking that Logan had woken up. Jude quickly glanced over his shoulder, finding that Logan had simply turned over in his sleep.

 

“I know that, but look, I was only a year older than him when I had my first crush.  For sure, he probably doesn’t even know what his feelings mean, but they could still be there,” Connor countered, lowering his voice slightly.

 

“No…no, I don’t think that’s it,” Jude responded dismissively.

 

“Okay,” Connor replied, deciding to trust his husband’s judgment and let the matter drop. Jude did spend more time with Logan than Connor did, so Connor supposed that Jude would have a better feel for these things than him.

 

“I wonder how your moms got everyone to come,” Connor said, changing the subject after a few minutes of semi-awkward silence.

 

“I’m not really sure,” Jude admitted.  “We haven’t had the whole family together since Logan’s 4th birthday party; everyone’s just been too busy with their own lives.”

 

“How much you want to bet that Stef blackmailed at least one of your siblings into coming?” Connor asked a little too gleefully, considering what he had just suggested.

 

“Connor!” Jude snorted, smacking him on the shoulder.  He knew that Connor was probably right, but that didn’t mean he should actually be voicing it. But thankfully, it wasn’t too much longer before they pulled up to the family’s campsite.  Jude got out and greeted his moms while Connor shook Logan awake.

 

“So glad you could make it!” Stef beamed, wrapping her arms around Jude at the same time Lena did, squashing him in a mom sandwich.

 

“Well, it wasn’t without a battle,” Jude chuckled as Stef and Lena released him and Connor and Logan walked up next to him.

 

“I can see why, considering Logan’s shadow is missing,” Lena observed only half jokingly. The boys had hardly been seen without the other since they became friends, meaning the absence of one was usually noticed quickly.

 

“Logan really didn’t want to come without him,” Connor mentioned as Logan was dragged away by Mariana and engulfed by all his aunts and uncles.  Logan glared at his dads for letting her, but Jude just shrugged. Mariana was not one to be easily denied what she wanted.

 

“Why isn’t he here?” Stef questioned as she led Jude and Connor to where they would be setting their tent up.

 

“He had to go to a funeral for his grandma,” Jude replied sadly as he tossed the bag containing their tent onto the ground.  Jude knew that if it had been anything else, they could’ve dragged Tommy away from whatever their family was doing to bring him with them.

 

“Aw, that’s too bad. We were really looking forward to Tommy joining us.  Ah well, we’ll still have a great time anyway.  The whole family’s here!” Stef grinned, giving Jude and Connor pats on the back before turning to rejoin Lena by the site’s fire pit.  Connor unzipped the bag, rustling through it, looking for the instructions.

 

“You need any help getting the tent set up?” Ryan inquired, wandering over in their direction as Connor triumphantly extracted the paper.  Jude rolled his eyes and grinned at Connor before turning to address Ryan.

 

“Uh, I don’t know,” Jude shrugged. “I don’t normally having anything to do with setting up the tent.  Connor says I just get in the way, so that’s what I’ll do. I was actually going to go see if moms needed help with anything.”

 

“Uh sure Ryan, I wouldn’t mind having some help,” Connor gasped as he was already struggling with the tent poles.  “So how are things with Jesus?” Connor asked as they worked to pitch the tent.

 

“Oh it’s uh—pretty good I guess,” Ryan replied hesitantly.  Connor immediately paused from pounding one of the tent stakes into the ground, glancing up at him questioningly.

 

“Pretty good? _You guess_?” Connor repeated, distress evident in his tone, as Ryan’s hesitation in answering was quite worrying.  The entire family had gotten very attached to Ryan, and there wasn’t a question that Ryan was probably the best thing to happen to Jesus since the Adams-Foster family adopted him.  At four and a half years, they stood as the longest lasting relationship in Jesus’ life, and it was easy to see the good things being with Ryan had done for him.

 

“Look, our relationship is perfectly fine I’m just—I’m just being greedy I suppose,” Ryan frowned, sitting down on a picnic table that was nearby.

 

“What do you mean?” Connor said quizzically, ambling over to sit next to him.

 

“Well it’s just—after four and a half years, I would’ve thought that he would’ve at least been ready to discuss the possibility of getting married.  And I don’t mean like asking me, I’m thinking like even just talking about it! I’ve been dropping him hints for months,” Ryan sighed, staring at his hands as he absentmindedly fiddled his fingers. Connor couldn’t help but let out a hearty chuckle.

 

“Ryan,” Connor said, patting him on the shoulder.  “You of all people should know that Jesus is as thick as a brick wall and you should know that hints get you nowhere.  And honestly, I think he’s not thinking about marriage because that’s a very ‘in the future’ thing and he’s a very much ‘in the now’ person.”

 

“I know!  I know all of that.  It’s that I’m just—scared to ask him outright.  What do you think I should do?”

 

“Look, if you want my honest opinion, you shouldn’t wait for him to ask you.  You should just ask him yourself,” Connor replied. “He’s not going to say no.”

 

“Yeah, okay,” Ryan mumbled.

 

“Now let’s finish setting up this tent,” Connor spoke before any kind of awkward silence could fall over them.

* * *

 

The rest of the afternoon passed by in a blur as the rest of the family arrived.  Stef and Lena, Jesus and Ryan, Mariana and her daughters Anna and Eva were already there; they were followed by Brandon and his wife Melinda and their children Samuel and Leah, and by Callie, Mike and AJ. All in all, there were 17 members of the Adams-Foster family scattered on three adjacent campsites.

 

Exhausted by an afternoon of setting up and catching up, Jude and Connor retired to their tent, collapsing on the air mattress after they put Logan to bed in a tent with all the other cousins. Jude rolled over onto his side, facing Connor who had a contemplative look on his face.

 

“Whatcha thinking about?”

 

“Doesn’t being in a tent bring back all kinds of memories?” Connor mumbled.

 

“Yeah,” Jude chuckled softly, lacing their fingers together as the thought back to the night that changed both their lives forever.

 

_*Flashback – 21 years ago*_

_“Psst,” Connor whispered, the noise easily cutting through the quiet air of the tent. Jude tried to ignore him; it was after lights out after all, and Jude didn’t want to get into trouble._

_“Juuuuuuude,” Connor whispered again, slightly louder this time. Jude sighed, turning over in his sleeping bag; Connor wasn’t going to leave him alone, was he? His breath hitched when he ended up on his other side, finding Connor’s face mere inches from his. The tent was small and it was a tight fit for the two of them, but there was enough room to leave a small space between them and that space had been there, but apparently Connor had changed his mind and decided it was necessary for them to be as close as possible._

_“What?” Jude murmured, sliding over to re-establish some distance between them. He did_ not _need Connor to be this close to him right now. It was hard enough liking your best friend, but having him so close that you’d only have to slightly lean over and your noses would be touching?  That was like an invitation to fuck everything up._

_“I’m bored,” Connor whined, his lips settling into an expression somewhere between a frown and a pout._

_“What do you want me to do about that?” Jude asked grumpily.  He had almost fallen asleep before Connor had started talking._

_“I dunno,” Connor shrugged._

_“Then I’m going back to sleep,” Jude quipped, moving to roll back over. Tonight was their last night, and the sooner he fell asleep, the sooner they could get home and the sooner Connor could stop pretending everything was fine._

_“Come on Jude,” Connor urged, putting a hand on Jude’s shoulder to stop his motion. “What was the point of us sharing a tent if you’re barely going to talk to me?”_

_“Just because I agreed to share a tent with you doesn’t mean that everything is magically okay,” Jude answered flatly, shrugging the hand off as he tried to ignore the electricity shooting up his arm from Connor’s touch._

_“How many times do you want me to say I’m sorry?”_

_“Connor, this is not about you apologizing, it’s about you refusing to stand up to your dad,” Jude sighed exasperatedly.  “I’m not going to be a secret!”_

_“I thought I told you, it wouldn’t matter if I stood up to him. It wouldn’t change anything,” Connor groaned.  Both boys were thoroughly frustrated with what was happening to their friendship, but neither one was willing to compromise their position to save it._

_“I understand that.  Doesn’t mean that I have to be okay with it.”_

_“Why not?”_

_“I’m not okay with it because it means you don’t care enough about our friendship to fight for it!  Even if standing up did nothing, at least it would tell me that you cared!  Instead you’re perfectly okay with letting your dad jerk you around and try to control you without thinking about how I feel about it!” Jude replied in a harsh, but hushed tone._

_“I—I’m just scared Jude,” Connor said in a small and broken voice, his eyes squeezing shut as tears leaked down his cheeks.  Jude felt all his anger and frustration draining from him in an instant, replaced by confusion._

_“Wha—why?” Jude questioned, scooting in closer.  Jude watched as Connor opened his eyes, biting his lip as his eyes flitted down to Jude’s lips.  But he was taken by surprise when Connor boldly leaned in, slotting their lips together. Connor’s lips were impossibly soft, fitting perfectly over his, like everything Jude had imagined kissing Connor would be like—and more._

_The kiss lasted only a few seconds but it felt like an eternity, and when they pulled apart, everything came perfectly into focus for both of them. Everything about Connor’s actions made sense to Jude, and everything Connor had everything he’d been feeling confirmed._

_Connor’s boldness faded in a matter of seconds as he shrunk away from Jude. His feelings became all too real and Connor was filled with terror._

_“You can’t tell anyone!” Connor said desperately as he turned over away from Jude. If anyone ever found out, he would be dead in a wink of an eye._

_“Y-yeah, okay,” Jude gasped, still feeling breathless from the kiss._

_“What happened to not being anyone’s secret?” Jude’s brain scolded him. But his heart, his emotions ignored his mind.  There was a glimmer of hope that Connor was into him the same way Jude was into Connor, and that was what Jude was choosing to latch onto._

_*End Flashback*_

Jude leaned over and softly pressed their lips together.

 

“I can’t believe that we ended up here from that night,” Jude said, staring deeply into his husband’s eyes.

 

“I was so sure that something like this was only ever going to be a dream then: being married, having a family. I thought I was always going to be too scared to make ‘us’ a reality,” Connor responded, distractedly running a hand through Jude’s hair.  “And not a day goes by that I’m not glad I was wrong.”

 

“Me too,” Jude answered, shifting his body so that he was curled up into Connor’s side, his head on Connor’s chest.  “I love you.”

 

“I love you too,” Connor replied, shutting his eyes as they both drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 

Logan was up the next morning before his dads, stumbling out of the stuffy tent (none of the kids had thought to unzip one of the windows for fresh air) to find only one other person up, sitting in a camp chair by the fire pit.

 

“Morning Logan!” Mariana greeted him brightly.

 

“Hi Aunt Mari,” Logan mumbled, returning the greeting as he walked over to a chair next to her.

 

“How did you sleep?” Mariana asked, taking a sip from her paper coffee cup.

 

“Fine,” Logan lied, shrugging his shoulders.  At only seven, he didn’t have the words to understand or articulate how or why he felt so—well so _bad_ without Tommy at his side.

 

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Mariana giggled.  “I’ve never slept real well while camping either.”

 

“It’s too bad Tommy couldn’t come,” Mariana remarked after a short pause.

 

“Yeah,” Logan replied softly, his lips turning downward.

 

“It’s so odd seeing you without him,” Mariana chuckled.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people closer than you and Tommy—well except for maybe your dads. But anyway, it’s really cute.”

 

Logan blushed, his cheeks turning a dark shade of pink.  He hoped that someone else would get up and save him from the embarrassment. It’s not like he thought Mariana was wrong, he just was embarrassed that she was pointing it out. The kids at school were already starting to tease him for refusing to leave Tommy’s side, he didn’t want his family doing it too.

 

Almost as if on cue, Jude came up and ruffled his hair.

 

“Morning buddy.”

 

“Morning dad.”

 

“You excited for a day at the beach?” Jude questioned (they had already talked about the plans for the day the night before around the campfire).

 

“I guess,” Logan shrugged. Nothing was all that exciting without Tommy there.

* * *

 

“Daaaaad,” Logan whined, trying to squirm out of Jude’s grasp.  The whole family was sitting on the small beach next to the campground’s lake, fully taking up a good quarter of the available space all by themselves.

 

“If you would just stay still buddy, this would be a lot less painful,” Jude groaned, fighting to hold him in place as Connor attempted to apply sunscreen to Logan’s pasty white skin.

 

“But I don’t like it!” Logan protested as one of his arms slipped free.  “It’s all slimy and icky!” he added, trying to shove Connor’s hand away.

 

“I know sport,” Connor said, gently pushing his arm back down while continuing to rub the white substance into Logan’s skin in spite of his objection.  “But you don’t want the sun to hurt you.  It’ll be worse than having to put this stuff on.”

 

“How can the sun hurt me?” Logan questioned, screwing up his face in confusion.  “Mr. Peterson said that—that the sun is really far away.”

 

“It is,” Connor assured him. “But its rays can reach really, _really_ far, and those are what hurt you.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Alright Jude, I’m finished. You can let go now,” Connor instructed. As soon as Jude did, Logan was tearing off towards the water to join his cousins.

 

“Logan!” Jude called. Logan slowed his pace but didn’t stop to look at his dad.  “Logan!” Jude called out harsher, and this time he halted and turned to face him.

 

“Whaaaaatttttt?” Logan griped, clearly upset at his dad for making him stop.

 

“You can’t go deeper than where the water comes up to your shoulders,” Jude warned sternly, to which Logan groaned.  “Logan,” Jude chided.

 

“Okay fine!” Logan grumbled.

 

“Hey, watch the attitude!” Jude reprimanded, but Logan ignored him, continuing to trudge through the sand to the lake’s edge.

 

“We should really sign him up for swimming lessons when we get back home,” Connor sighed, watching Logan closely as he entered the water.

 

“Yeah, he probably should learn,” Jude agreed quickly.  “It’s not fun being stuck in the shallow end.”

 

“Hey bro,” Jesus said, spreading his towel out beside Jude.  He and Ryan had proven impossible to get up (seriously, they all had tried to no avail), so they all headed down to the beach without them, figuring that, since they already knew the plans, they would join the family whenever they got up. At this point, the group had been down there for a good fifteen minutes before they had now finally shown up.

 

“Hey, I’m going to go in the water for a few minutes,” Ryan alerted them, slapping Jesus on the back before he took his shirt off and ambled away.

 

“Are you guys ever on time for work?” Jude joked, nudging his brother playfully.  “Jeez, I’ve never met any two people that were harder to get up!”

 

“Hey, we both get up when our alarms go off!  We’re almost never late!” Jesus replied defensively.  “We were just taking advantage of the chance to sleep in today.”

 

“Ha, what’s sleeping in?” Jude snorted.  “Sleeping in isn’t an option when you’re a parent.”  


“Sounds like fun,” Jesus teased.

 

“It’s definitely rewarding, it’s just also really tiring,” Jude shrugged, unconsciously letting out a yawn.

 

“I think I’m going to let the rest of the family reap those ‘rewards’.  I honestly don’t really want kids.”

 

“And Ryan doesn’t either?” Jude inquired

 

“I don’t think so, but we haven’t really talked about it,” Jesus admitted.

 

“Well you’re not engaged yet, so I suppose having that conversation isn’t important yet,” Jude conceded. Jesus’ eyes went wide, looking fully surprised at the mention of an engagement.  “But—”

 

Connor scrambling to his feet and sprinting towards the water promptly interrupted Jude before he could continue on.  Jude concernedly turned his eyes to the lake (as he doubted he’d ever seen Connor move faster), finding Logan bobbing up and down like a cork, looking as if he was struggling to keep his head above water.  Connor reached Logan in a mere thirty seconds, swiftly plucking the boy out of the water and walking him back to where Jude was sitting.

 

“What did we tell you about not going in too deep?” Connor scolded Logan, who was coughing, still trying to catch his breath.  Jesus snorted, earning a glare and a sharp elbow in the ribs from Jude.  “You could’ve drowned if I hadn’t been watching you!”

 

“I’m sorry daddy,” Logan mumbled, staring at his feet to avoid Connor’s eyes.

 

“Sorry doesn’t quite cut it this time sport,” Connor replied, his voice thick with disappointment. “You’re going to have to stay out of the water for the rest of the day.”

 

“But daddy!” Logan whimpered, turning to Jude and silently begging him to lessen his punishment. Jude simply shook his head and Logan hung his in defeat, crossing his arms as he plopped down in the sand. But Logan, being the restless seven year-old boy he was, eventually got bored of sitting in front of his dads and got up, wandering back down towards the water.

 

“Logan,” Connor said threateningly.

 

“I wasn’t going to go in daddy. Sheesh,” Logan rolled his eyes, stopping at the water’s edge, the gentle waves of the small lake lapping up over his toes. He was pushing it, but Connor decided to let it go, but not taking his eyes off his son.  Logan kept glancing back over his shoulder, checking to see if Connor was still watching him, which, much to his chagrin, every time he checked, Connor was.  Jude decided to let Connor keep handling it, and turned his attention back to chatting with his family.


	5. Age 7 - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this part is sort of short and not very exciting, and honestly I should've made it all one chapter, but (frankly) I was too lazy to write the whole thing at once...so anyway, enjoy! It's at least very cute if not particularly thrilling :)

Logan was very bored now that he couldn’t splash around in the water.  To him, that was the only fun thing that he knew of to do on the beach. With that gone, the only things left to “play” with was the damp sand and stones under and around his feet.

 

It was the stones that caught his attention.  Bending over, Logan picked up a quarter-sized stone, glancing back at his daddy to see if he’d react. Given that he had already gotten in trouble once that day, Logan wasn’t eager to get in trouble again. When Connor didn’t react, Logan quickly tossed the rock into the water, watching with satisfaction as it made a small splash, creating ripples on the calm lake surface.  He looked back and found that Connor’s expression hadn’t changed, despite the fact that he had clearly seen Logan throw the stone.

 

Feeling now that he had the go-ahead, Logan picked up a handful of stones, throwing them one at a time into the water, watching the drops of liquid thrown in the air by each impact. After he’d thrown a few, Logan decided to launch the rest of them all at once.  They scattered in through the air, traveling towards the water. All of them made it safely to the surface, save one, a fairly large rock that hit Sam squarely in the back of the head.

 

“Hey!” Sam yelled, whipping around. Logan stood there, frozen to the spot in fear.  “Why did you throw that at me?”

 

“I-I-I—” Logan stuttered, stumbling backwards as Sam began stalking towards him, rage burning in his eyes. At ten years old, Samuel towered a full foot over Logan, and Logan also knew (as the whole family did) that Sam was a hothead and tend to act rashly in anger.  Logan’s eyes went wide when Sam stooped down and picked up a few stones from the spot where Logan had just been standing. Logan barely had time to throw his hands up in self-defense before the first stone hit him in the right shoulder.

 

“How does that feel?” Sam shouted, pelting Logan with the rocks.  “Huh? How do you like it?”

 

“Ow!  Stop it!  That hurts!” Logan pleaded, starting to cry as he continued to back up and uselessly flailed in an attempt to block the stones and save himself from the stinging impact against his skin.

 

“Sam!” Brandon said sharply, sprinting up and placing himself between Logan and Sam, absorbing Sam’s last throw on his chest.  “Why are you throwing things at your cousin?”

 

“He started it!” Sam exclaimed accusatorily, pointing at Logan.

 

“N-no I didn’t!” Logan sobbed, latching onto Connor who had jogged up at the same time as Brandon.

 

“You threw a rock at my head!”

 

“B-but I didn’t m-mean to,” Logan blubbered.

 

“Look Sam, I don’t care who started what.  How many times have we told you _not_ to retaliate with physical violence **_ever_**?” Brandon asked, clearly upset and disappointed.

 

“Sorry,” Sam mumbled, avoiding his father’s eyes.

 

“It’s not me you need to be apologizing to.  I’m not the one you were throwing rocks at, so you need to tell Logan you’re sorry,” Brandon instructed.

 

“Sorry,” Sam said quickly, only briefly glancing in Logan’s direction as he started walking back towards the water.

 

“Samuel Frances,” Brandon interjected sternly, putting a hand on Sam’s shoulder and dragging him back to where Logan was standing.  “You’re ten, you should know that’s not how you apologize to people, especially not your cousin.”

 

“Ugh fine,” Sam groaned, begrudgingly looking Logan in the eye.  “I’m sorry for throwing rocks at you.”

 

Logan nodded and said nothing else in reply, despite Connor looking at him expectantly.

 

“Logan, don’t you think you have something to apologize for too?” Connor questioned.

 

“B-but daddy, I d-didn’t do anything!” Logan sniffled in protest.

 

“So you didn’t throw the rock that hit him in the head?”

 

Logan shook his head.

 

“Really sport?” Connor quipped, narrowing his eyes.

 

Logan nodded his head this time.

 

“Logan Alexander, don’t lie to me. I saw what happened,” Connor said firmly. Logan flinched at the use of his middle name; that only happened when he was very close to being in big trouble. His dads hadn’t reached his last name yet, but he figured that if that happened, he’d be dead, and Logan was not in the mood to go that way today.

 

“Sorry daddy,” Logan murmured. “But it was an accident! Why do I have to apologize?” he added at the last second, still wanting to be argumentative and get out of apologizing.

 

“You still hurt Sam and you need to apologize for that,” Connor directed.

 

“I’m sorry for accidentally hitting you,” Logan muttered in defeat.  When Sam had accepted the apology, Brandon led Sam away.

 

“Alright, we’re going to go back to the campsite,” Connor sighed when he and Logan approached the blanket Jude was sitting on.

 

“Okay,” Jude nodded, standing up and beginning to shake the sand off the blanket.

 

“You don’t have to leave just yet if you don’t want to.  I can handle Logan,” Connor said, putting his hand on Jude’s shoulder to stop his motions.

 

“No, it’s okay,” Jude shrugged. “Actually you’re saving me. Jesus has started going on about some sports team, and I’m not in the mood to pretend to listen to that today.”

 

Jesus glared at him and stuck his tongue out.  Jude ignored him and took Logan’s hand, walking him back to the campsite with Connor as a gentle rain began to fall.  They had barely made it back to the site when it began pouring in buckets.  Jude and Connor huddled with Logan in the cousin’s tent, waiting for the rest of the family to come back so they could decide what to do.

* * *

 

It rained most of the rest of the afternoon, but eventually, the rain let up enough to allow the family to gather around the fire pit and have an evening fire.  They were all sitting in folding camp chairs, except for Leah and Samuel, who had picked up a few sticks and were crouched next to the flames, sticking the ends of the sticks in the fire, watching the wood burn up a little bit at a time.  Logan hopped up from his chair in between his dads, moving to take off somewhere.  Connor reached out and gently grabbed his arm, stopping Logan.

 

“Where are you going sport?” Connor asked.  He couldn’t imagine where Logan wanted to go, since he’d just gone to the bathroom twenty minutes ago and it was still too early for him to want to go to bed.

 

“I was gonna grab some sticks to—”

 

“Nope buddy,” Jude cut in. “You’re not going to do that.”

 

“But daaaaad, Sam and Leah get to,” Logan whined, struggling against Connor’s strong hand.

 

“Are you ten like Sam or thirteen like Leah?” Jude inquired.  Logan stopped, thinking hard over the question for a minute.

 

“Yes,” he replied.

 

“Nice try buddy,” Jude responded, trying to ignore his husband’s snickering at Logan’s audacity.

 

“But wh—” Logan groaned, resignedly flopping down in his chair with such force that it went tumbling over backwards, depositing Logan on the cold, muddy ground.

 

“Are you okay buddy?” Jude questioned, getting up from his chair and stooping down next to Logan.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Alright,” Jude said, grabbing Logan’s hand and helping him to his feet.  “How about we get sitting in this chair down before we worry about putting anything in the fire, okay buddy?  We don’t want you to fall in and get hurt.”

 

“Ugh, whatever,” Logan huffed, sitting down on the chair once he set it back up (albeit, much more carefully than the first time).

 

“Check the attitude sport,” Connor cautioned.  “Unless you want to be put to bed early?”

 

“No I don’t,” Logan agreed reluctantly.  As he started speaking, raindrops began falling on their heads again. 

 

“You may not have a choice,” Connor shrugged as he noticed the water gathering on his forearms. The group tried to ignore them, but their frequency and intensity increased to the point where everyone (apparently simultaneously) decided to retire into their tents for the night.

 

“Wait!” Ryan cried, stopping everyone in their tracks.  They turned back to face him and once everyone was looking at them, Ryan stuttered on. “T-there’s something I uh—I want to do in front of everyone.”

 

Next to Jude, Connor began grinning like an idiot, his face lighting up as he lightly slapped Jude’s arm over and over.

 

“What?” Jude whispered, wondering what Ryan had said to get Connor so riled up.

 

“Watch,” Connor giggled softly, turning Jude’s head back.

 

“I’m um—really unprepared. I kinda just decided to do this now, but isn’t that kind of the way we’ve always done things? Spur of the moment, right Jesus?” Ryan said hesitantly.  Jesus nodded in agreement despite the confused look he wore on his face.  Even in the fading evening light, Jude could see that Ryan’s face was a pale white color as the rain made Ryan’s hair flop down onto his forehead and into his eyes.  What could make Ryan that nervous?

 

Looking over at Stef and Lena, they were sharing a knowing look.  His sisters seemed to be as excited as Connor.  Jude absentmindedly began twisting his wedding band on his finger when it clicked. And then he was joining Connor and his sisters in being overly excited.

 

“Jesus,” Ryan said, approaching Jesus and taking his hands into his own.  “I have to admit, you are the most frustrating person I’ve ever met. You’re fiery, impulsive, disorganized, insensitive…you know I could go on and on, but that isn’t the point I’m trying to make.  What I mean to say is that you’re everything I’m not.  They say opposites attract, and these last four and a half years has proved that to me. And I think that’s why I love you so much. Your unpredictability is what makes my life exciting, and while I know nothing will ever change who you are, there is something I want to change and make a little more predictable,” he continued, going down to a knee in front of Jesus, whose eyes went wide at the gesture.  “I love you Jesus Adams-Foster, and I want you to be with me, by my side and making my life unpredictable for the rest of the days we have left, and I know I don’t have a ring or anything, but Jesus, will you marry me?”

 

“You want to marry _me_?” Jesus blurted out.  If anyone else had reacted to proposal like that, most people would assume that they meant to say no, but this was standard operating procedure for Jesus. No one standing out in the pouring rain was the least bit surprised by his reaction.

 

“As shocked as we all are that anyone would, yes Jesus, he does want to marry _you_ ,” Mariana sassed her twin.

 

“Oh.”

 

“Well Jesus, are you going to answer?” Lena asked, voicing the entire group’s thoughts.

 

“Oh yeah right,” Jesus replied, earning a snort from both Mariana and Jude.  He ignored them, turning back to Ryan who was still kneeling in the mud, holding both his hands.  “Yeah,” Jesus nodded, pulling Ryan to his feet and into a tight embrace. They kissed messily, water rolling down their faces from the rain, passion and love written in every movement of their lips and tongues.  Tomorrow they would all chide Ryan for choosing such a cheesy moment to propose (“ _Kissing in the rain?  Seriously Ryan?_ ”), but tonight, all Jude could think about was the moment Connor had proposed to him.

 

_*Flashback – 15 years ago*_

_“Wow, this place is fancy,” was all Jude could think as Connor led him into the restaurant for their date night dinner.  The restaurant was at least one hundred times fancier than their usual date night fare (and Jude ventured, at least that much more expensive too) and Jude knew Connor was up to something, but he wasn’t sure what yet._

_“This place is really nice.  Are you sure we can afford this?” Jude remarked as they were seated at a table. Even though they were nineteen, in college, and not married yet, somehow they had ended up combining their finances (Jude hadn’t quite figured out how it had happened yet, not that he minded; they were going to end up doing that one day anyway)._

_“What? Oh yeah, I have some extra money set aside for this,” Connor replied nervously, wringing his hands together anxiously, the blood beginning to drain from his face._

_Connor’s face continued to lose its color as they ordered drinks, breathing shallowly as he spoke timidly.  Jude was worried that Connor might be having a panic attack of some kind. If not for that, Jude would’ve spent more time wondering what was making Connor so nervous. But making sure his boyfriend was okay was Jude’s first priority at that moment._

_“Con? Is everything alright?” Jude questioned, moving from his seat across from Connor and sliding up next to him on the booth bench.  “You don’t look so good right now.”_

_“I-I’m fine,” Connor stammered.  “D-don’t worry about m-me.”_

_“Connor, we’ve been dating for 6 years.  Please don’t bullshit me; I know you’re not fine,” Jude said gently, running his hand up and down Connor’s back in an attempt to soothe him._

_“I’m just worried tonight won’t be perfect,” Connor responded shakily._

_“We’re together.  What more do I need in order for tonight to be perfect?”_

_“Hey, you’re not supposed to be the one who says cheesy, romantic things,” Connor quipped jokingly, a little bit of the tension leaving his shoulders as he chuckled._

_“I get like—well like two a year and I haven’t used any yet,” Jude shrugged, a wide grin on his face as he saw his boyfriend start to relax._

_“Well it’s no matter because I think I’m about to trump you,” Connor said, a mischievous smirk on his face._

_“What do you mean?” Jude wondered, quirking his eyebrows up in a questioning expression._

_“Jude, I’ve known since we were 15 that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You’re—well, you’re one of a kind. A Judicorn if you will—”_

_“Oh my God, I’m going to kill her.”_

_“—I’ve never met anyone like you.  I’ve never liked anyone the way I like you.  I’ll never love anyone to the same depth that I love you.  And I know—well I’m pretty sure you feel the same way.”_

_“I do Connor, I really do feel the same.”_

_“I know we’re still young Jude, but I’m really sure that we’ll always be together. So,” Connor continued, fishing in his pocket and pulling out a small felt box, “Jude Adams-Foster, will you do me the honor of becoming my husband?”_

_*End Flashback*_

 

Jude honestly didn’t remember what happened after that moment, though Connor later told him that there were a lot of tears involved, and that he wouldn’t stop crying, nodding or saying yes, even after Connor had slipped the simple gold band onto his finger. Jude did however remember what happened when they had made it back to their apartment after dinner. It was a simple proposal, but even now, after 14 years being married, Jude still thought it was the perfect proposal.

 

“ _Ewwww_!”

 

All the cousins crying in disgust broke the spell of the moment, sending the entire family scrambling for the shelter of their tents.  Jude and Connor quickly ducked inside, finding that about a quarter of an inch of water that had gathered on the floor of the tent.

 

“You have to be kidding me,” Connor muttered, stepping back out and disappearing for a few minutes. Jude quickly stripped off his wet clothes, haphazardly tossing them in the water and hopping onto the air mattress (the surface of which was thankfully still dry) as he listened to the consistent, gentle patter of raindrops on the blue canvas.  Connor returned with an armful of towels, tossing them on the ground in an attempt to soak up the standing water.

 

“Con, we really are going to need a bucket if you want to dry this thing out,” Jude giggled at his husband’s futile attempt to remove the water from the floor.  “Come on, let’s just sleep and deal with it in the morning.”

 

“Fine,” Connor replied, letting out a breath in exasperation.  He stripped until he was down to nothing but his (still soaking wet) boxers.

 

“You might as well take those off too,” Jude shrugged, the corner of his lip twitching up in a slight smirk.

 

“Ooh, is someone feeling a little frisky?” Connor teased, quickly taking his underwear off and joining Jude in the sleeping bag.

 

“I was thinking about the night you proposed so—yeah, you could say that,” Jude said, drawing Connor in for a long kiss.  “Besides you just gave me a strip tease, what do you expect me to do?”

 

“Oh I think I know exactly what I expect you to do,” Connor grinned.

* * *

 

When they woke up the next morning, it was still raining, and more water had collected on the floor of their tent.

 

“I am really not in the mood to deal with this,” Jude groaned into Connor’s chest.

 

“Maybe we should just go home early?” Connor suggested, absentmindedly twirling a few strands of Jude’s hair between his fingers.

 

“After all the work moms did to set this up?” Jude questioned.  “No Con, I don’t think we can.  Moms would kill us.”

 

“Okay, fine, I’ll deal with it,” Connor sighed, carefully untangling their bodies and tossing on what dry clothes he had left.

 

When Connor emerged, only one tent besides theirs remained.  Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Connor trudged over to the remaining tent, unzipping the flap and sticking his head inside.

 

“What’s going on?” Connor asked.

 

“It’s too wet,” Stef explained dejectedly.  “We might as well just call it a weekend.”

 

“Alright buddy,” Connor said to Logan who was in the tent with Stef and Lena.  “Let’s go.”

 

“We’re actually going home early?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Logan’s face lit up, climbing over Stef and Lena to get out of the tent, sprinting to the car. Connor chuckled, stepping back and setting to work taking down the tent so they could go home.


	6. Age 8 Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all!
> 
> So you probably all know the things that have been going on with me recently, in the change in focus with my fandoms and such...this fic was about to be an unfortunate casualty of that, but NukeRose messaged me asking if I was looking for someone to do something similar to the arrangement I have with G8rguy on _Starstruck_ and I thought that this fic would just be perfect for them. After looking over this first chapter they've written, I'm pretty confident in their ability to handle this story just as well as I could (and maybe even better). While I know where this story is going, since my outline is still the basis for this, I'm excited to see how we're going to get there. Hope y'all enjoy this story and huge, huge thanks to NukeRose!
> 
> \- Benjji

On the first day of Logan's second grade year, it was an early morning at the Adams-Foster house, and it was peaceful, until the moment when it just wasn't any more. The tranquil mood of the morning was smashed into a billion pieces by a certain eight year old who bounced into his dads room, showing off his boundless energy as was the advantage of youth. He had set his alarm to wake him up at 6:00 am sharp. As soon as the alarm had gone off, he flew out of his bed and rummaged through his closet for an outfit to wear. He momentarily thanked whatever god existed that he was now "grown up enough" to pick out his own clothes for school. He was dressed in a blue and white striped collared shirt and his best pair of blue jeans. Once Logan was dressed, and had put his socks on, he crept out into the hallway and toward his parent's room. He opened the door gently, making sure that it didn't creak and alert his Dads to his plan.

Within the room, sleeping soundly, Jude and Connor were unaware of what was going on around them. Logan laughed at his Dads. Connor's face was smushed against his pillow and his hand was outstretched to lay against the back of Jude's head, and Jude was snoring and had one of his legs hanging off the edge of the bed.

"Dads are weird." Logan concluded to himself with a snicker.

The boy took a few steps back, and with a huff he threw himself into the air. Gravity brought him down with a thump and he landed right in the middle of the bed with a bounce.

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! SCHOOL!" Logan said loudly.

Jude and Connor jerked awake with a violent start, and Jude fell out of the bed onto the floor with a thump. Connor stared around the room in a massive panic for a few moments before his vision cleared enough to see a hysterically laughing Logan rolling around on the bed.

"Gah… ow." Jude mumbled from his interesting new position on the floor.

"Good morning!" Logan chirped cheerfully, as if he hadn't just nearly gave his dads dual heart attacks.

"Was that really necessary?" Jude groaned from the floor.

Logan thought about it for a second.

"Well, no. But it was funny." He finally said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'll show you funny!" Connor growled playfully and lunged, latching onto Logan and tickling him. The boy shrieked with laughter, and it intensified when Jude joined in.

It took ten minutes before Jude and Connor decided to show mercy, and allow Logan to escape their clutches. The boy had laughed himself silly, and had a stitch in his side as they entered the kitchen for breakfast. They sat down at the table and Logan poured himself a bowl of cereal, digging in happily.

"Excited, buddy?"

"Yeah." Logan said around a mouthful of cereal.

"Logan, swallow your food before you talk." Jude said exasperatedly.

Logan gulped his food down and looked sheepish.

"Sorry," He said, "Tommy's in my class again this year, so it should be pretty cool."

Jude and Connor shared a quick look that communicated a whole conversation.

Since they met, Logan and Tommy had became completely inseparable. Nearly every minute of their free time was spent in the other's company. Sometimes, it seemed like Logan was over at Tommy's more than he was home, and sometimes it felt like Tommy was at theirs more than he was home. They were also reaching that age where they were starting to get mischievous. The two boys had a pranking streak, and it alternated between driving Jude and Connor crazy and amusing them.

For example, one day when Tommy was staying over for the night, the boys rearranged the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen, moving the silverware and glasses around. When Jude and Connor woke up the next day and went to fix their customary morning cup of coffee, they opened the cupboard to grab their mugs and were met with the sight of haphazardly stacked plates. Jude just shook his head and turned to Connor with a knowing look in his eyes before shouting for the boys. Both men had to admit that the boys had one hell of a poker face when asked about their prank. They denied everything, and if it wasn't for the fact that Jude and Connor knew them so well, they might have ended up getting away with it.

Another time, they replaced Jude's shampoo bottle with ketchup and Connor's shaving cream with whipped cream. Connor laughed himself silly when he saw Jude come barreling out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel with ketchup in his hair, screaming Logan's name at the top of his lungs. Later that day, when Connor went to shave, Jude was able to get some revenge and cackled with mirth.

Needless to say, them being in the same class could be potentially either very entertaining, or disastrous.

Within two weeks, the two decided the outcome was definitely disastrous as they were called to Anchor Beach to deal with their son's "disruptive behavior". The two walked into the old school, a wave of nostalgia sweeping over them as it always did when they entered. They were met by Lena, who was now the Principal after Monte had resigned the year previously. Jude was glad for this because it meant he no longer had to deal with the woman who had nearly broke up his Mom's marriage. At 62 years old, Lena was still going strong, whereas Stef had finally retired from the police force. When one of Tommy's moms, Julie, arrived, the discussion began.

"What's this about, Momma?" Jude asked, casting his eyes suspiciously over the two subdued boys who sat with their hands in their laps and avoiding eye contact.

"Ms. Baker says that Logan and Tommy were being disruptive in class." Lena said, "They were apparently caught trying to put a rather large spider in her desk."

It took every ounce of self control in Connor's body to stop him from guffawing with mirth.

Ms. Baker was one of the least liked teachers at the school, and Logan and Tommy loathed her with a passion.

"I wouldn't be surprised." He thought to himself.

"Now, as this is their first offense this year, they are being let off with a warning." Lena continued, "But if this kind of behavior continues, disciplinary action will be taken."

"Don't worry, mom." Connor said lightly, "It won't happen again, _will it_ Logan?"

Logan recognized the tone, and nodded sheepishly.

As soon as the small group stepped out into the hallway, Connor and Julie started laughing, while Jude tried and failed to hide a smile.

That night, Jude, Connor, Julie and her wife Jessica got together and had dinner together. After dinner, while Logan and Tommy were busy playing video games in Logan's room, Julie told Jessica what had happened. She nearly fell out of her chair she was laughing so hard.

"He get's that from me." Jessica claimed with a smile, "I did all kinds of crazy stuff when I was growing up. Back in the days when a stink bomb wouldn't get you expelled…"

She trailed off with a nostalgic smile on her face.

"I got into some crazy stuff when I was thirteen, but other than that my childhood was relatively calm." Connor commented.

"Why what happened when you were thirteen?" Julie asked as she took a sip of her wine.

"Oh, I got shot in the foot." Connor said nonchalantly.

Julie choked on her wine.

"W-What?" She sputtered.

"This was before I was out." Connor explained, "And my dad was not accepting of gay people. At all. He tried to stop me and Jude being friends because he suspected he was gay. After a whole hell of a lot of lying, Jude and I snuck out one night to teepee some girls house with two of our friends, one of whom was my _girlfriend_. Our friend Taylor, knew Jude and I liked each other. She suggested we go to her house, get drunk and make out. So we broke in, but we only got one drink apiece before everything went to shit."

"What happened?" Julie asked.

"Taylor's dad thought we were burglars and shot at us as we ran out the door." Jude finished, "It hit Connor in the foot. Connor came out to his dad that night, because he was tired of lying. I wasn't allowed to see him again, but I'm nothing if not persistent. With help from Lena, I was allowed in to see him, and we became a couple while lying in a hospital bed watching a rerun of Glee."

"Took a while for Dad to come to terms with it." Connor continued grumpily, "He never was okay with it, and I ended up living in L.A with my mom for a year to get away from him."

"Did he ever get better about it?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, he got a little better, don't get me wrong." Connor admitted, "But the only reason I came back to San Diego to stay was for Jude. I just couldn't stand to be away from him anymore. It was hard getting back into Anchor Beach because of the waiting list, but Lena managed to make it happen. Things were still a little strained at home, but it was better than it had been before the move. Dad was a bit bitter about the whole thing, but…"

Connor finished by merely shrugging his shoulders.

"He apologized to me, you know?" Jude interjected, "Back then. He came up to get your transcripts and told me he was sorry for not getting it. He looked like he was about to cry, and he even gave me a hug."

"He did?" Connor asked, "You never told me about that."

"I forgot, to be honest." Jude admitted.

"How does Logan get along with him?" Jessica asked.

"My dad is a far better grandfather than he was a father, that's for sure." Connor said, "And that's straight from my dad's mouth. Anyway, what were we talking about before this diatribe happened?"

"Crazy childhood experiences." Jessica answered.

"Well, I spent most of my childhood in foster care," Jude said, "So I didn't really do anything crazy."

"No, that came later." Connor teased, "Like your bachelor party for instance."

Jude narrowed his eyes at Connor.

"I thought we agreed to never mention that again?"

"Oh, now I've got to here this." Julie said, an amused glint in their eyes.

"If you say another word, you're sleeping on the couch for the next month." Jude warned.

"Sorry girls, but not gonna happen." Connor finally said.

The adults laughed, and right outside the kitchen, the two eavesdropping boys retreated to Logan's room, shutting the door behind them. They sat on the bed, and Logan looked troubled. After a minute of silence, Logan sniffled and the first tear fell.

"What's wrong, Logan?" Tommy asked.

"All the things they said, about my Grandpa." Logan said, his voice cracking, "He taught me to play baseball. He buys me expensive gifts for birthdays and Christmas. He's always been so nice to me… How could he treat my dad's like that? Why?"

"It was a long time ago, Logan." Tommy assured his best friend, "He's changed. I've met him, he's cool now."

"Yeah, but it still happened." Logan said sadly, "And it shouldn't have. And Daddy got SHOT! With a GUN! All because he had to sneak around to be with Dad."

"That sounded like a freak accident, though." Tommy reasoned, "You can't blame your Grandpa for that."

"I know, it just… it makes me mad." Logan continued, "All the crap they had to go through."

"Try not to think about it, buddy."

Just outside the door, Connor eavesdropped on their conversation. He had known that the boys were listening in, and was eternally glad that Tommy was able to calm Logan down. The last thing Connor wanted was for Logan to hate his grandpa. Connor sighed and knocked on the door, and the boys looked up at him. Connor entered the room and drew Logan into a hug, and the boys sunk into the embrace and wrapped both arms around his dad.

"I'm sorry you overheard that." Connor said softly.

"You shouldn't be sorry." Logan retorted, "He should be."

"He is." Connor said, "God, you wouldn't believe just how sorry my dad is. Most of the spoiling he does to you is his way of making up for what happened. He feels terrible. He always has, but I just… *sigh*, I never really gave him a chance. He tried to make things right, back then."

"He… he did?" Logan asked, wiping his eyes.

"A few times, actually," Connor said softly, "But I wouldn't hear any of it. I was a kid; an angry, stubborn, hurt teenager who never gave him a chance. Hell, even after dad and I got married I tried to avoid him as much as I could. Things only really started to get better after he taught you how to play baseball."

"How?" Logan asked.

"Well, I saw the way he was with you." Connor said, "How good he was with you. How gentle. I guess it made me see a little sense. That, and Dad hammered some sense in too."

Logan giggled.

"He must have used a big hammer." Logan joked, "You've gotta thick skull."

"Pot. Kettle. And Black." Connor deadpanned, ruffling Logan's hair playfully, "Get ready for bed you two. You've got school tomorrow."

**********

Over the next few months, things continued on as usual. Connor and Jude chaperoned a few field trips for the boys' class. Tommy and Logan continued to grow closer, now hosting sleepovers nearly every night they were possible. Logan continued to excel and have fun in baseball, and it continued to make Connor and Adam proud. Nothing really exciting happened until the middle of September, when during dinner Logan approached Jude.

"Can I ask you something, dad?"

"Sure bud, go ahead?"

"Could you teach me to ride a bike?" Logan asked, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet.

"Um, sure kiddo." Jude said, smiling with surprise but nodding all the same.

They bought Logan one of the best bikes they could find, and the boy was ecstatic. He showed it off to Tommy, who thought it was the coolest thing.

"I remember my first bicycle." Connor said later, "The feeling of freedom that came with it. Didn't feel anything like it again until I got my first car."

"Just wait until we have to find him his first car." Jude said jokingly.

"I think we can officially call ourselves old at that point." Connor joked with a devilish smirk that just begged to be kissed off. Which, of course, was exactly what Jude did.

It should have been simple, teaching Logan to ride the bike, but naturally it wasn't, and that's why Connor was called out of work by a frantic Jude, demanding he meet him at the hospital.

When he got there, Connor found out that Logan had lost control of the bike and rammed into the side of a parked car. His arm was broken, but it was a clean break.

Jude was furious with himself, angry tears streaking down his face.

"Dad, calm down." Logan begged, "It wasn't your fault! I'm going to be fine. It wasn't even my writing arm. They even let me pick the color of my cast, see?"

Logan waved his blue cast around to emphasize the fact.

"If I had been paying closer attention…" Jude started to say.

"What is it that Grandpa always says?" Logan asked, "Hindsight is always 20-20? Does that fit here?"

"Yeah, kiddo. It fits." Connor agreed, "He's okay Jude, he just has to wear the cast for six weeks. He'll be fine."

Logan got up and gave Jude a hug, and a kiss on the cheek. He wiped a tear away.

"Don't cry, Dad." Logan said, "I'm okay. I promise."

"How about we go get some ice cream?" Connor suggested.

"Can Tommy still come over later?" Logan asked immediately.

"Saw that coming a mile away." Jude thought to himself.

"Of course he can buddy." Jude answered aloud.

When Tommy arrived that night, and saw the cast on Logan's arm he was not happy.

"What the heck happened to you?!" He exclaimed as soon as he walked into Logan's room.

"Dad was teaching me to ride a bike earlier." Logan answered, "I got going too fast, and I lost control. Ran into a parked car and broke my arm."

"Were you even wearing safety stuff?" Tommy asked crossly, "You know you're supposed ta wear safety stuff."

"Yes. I was." Logan answered amusedly.

"Helmet, kneepads, shoulder and elbow pads?" Tommy rattled off, and the more worked up he get the more amused Logan got until he started laughing.

"Yes, dork. All of those too." Logan said through his giggles, "Doesn't help much when you ram the side of a Malibu at high speed though."

"Obviously." Tommy said, "How long are you gonna be in that?"

"Six weeks." Logan answered, "I can't get it wet either, which means I can't go swimming, which sucks. You want to sign the cast?"

Logan extended his good hand, a silver permanent marker held in his grasp. Tommy too it and scribbled a short message on the cast with his name.

"Get well soon, bro, from Tommy." Logan read from his cast, "Aww, you really do care."

Tommy ruffled Logan's hair teasingly.

"Goof ball." Tommy said good naturedly.

For the next six weeks, Tommy helped Logan navigate school with his injury by carrying his books for him. When the day finally came for it to be removed, the day before Halloween, the boys celebrated do doing something they hadn't been able to do during the time the cast was on. The boys barely waited a second after the sprinkler had been turned on before charging towards it, laughing their heads off. After getting sopping wet, they boys commenced another sport they loved to engage in, and wrestled each other to the ground. As Logan pinned Tommy under him, grinning in victory, Jude and Connor watched from the porch.

"It's scary some times." Connor said.

"What do you mean?" Jude asked.

"Look at them." Connor said, nodding to the two boys, "It's scary how similar they are to us when we were kids. If anything, they're even closer."

"Yeah, I know." Jude admits.

"What if… they do end up together. In the end?" Connor asked.

"A lot can change over the next few years." Jude reminded him.

"Well, yeah. I know, but that's what they said about us. Remember?" Connor responded.

"IF it happens, then it happens." Jude said, "And if it does, I'll be thrilled for him. But it's still a long way off."

"I'm looking forward to it." Connor said, "To him finding somebody. I just hope he gets as lucky as I did."

As they watched the two boys recommence their roughhousing, Jude smiled softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad Benjji liked it, and hope you all do too.
> 
> -Evan (aka NukeRose.)


	7. Age 8 Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to post this. My updates have been inconsistent because I am dealing with a lot of stuff right now in my life and it's difficult to fit in my writing.

The day of Halloween, Jude and Connor were spared their usual wakeup call from Logan on account of Tommy being present. Instead of rearranging the furniture during the night, or leaping on them to wake them up, they received a different style of wake up call. Connor's phone alarm was set to go off at 5:30 sharp, and it usual tone was some kind of rock song, usually "Back in Black" by AC/DC. Today though, it was something else entirely. As soon as it went off, Connor and Jude's eyes flew open in disbelief and stared at the phone for a second. The two men shared a look, before collapsing into laughter.

 _Somebody_ , probably Logan, had changed Connor's alarm from AC/DC, to the Benny Hill theme.

Needless to say, both Jude and Connor were very amused.

"Oh, god." Connor choked through his laughter, "That is classic."

"Want to wake them up today as revenge?" Jude said as his giggles calmed.

"Oh, definitely." Connor responded with a smile.

The two men did a quick check of the house to make sure that the boys had not been up to some of their pranking antics. No rearranged furniture or displaced silverware to drive Jude crazy.

They shared a look and a shrug.

"Huh, nothing else?" Connor wondered quietly, "I'm kind of shocked honestly."

"I know, huh?" Jude agreed, looking supremely surprised, "I expected to find at least a chair turned upside down or something."

The two ventured down the hallway to the door of Logan's room. They opened it and stepped inside silently. On the bed, Logan and Tommy lay asleep. Logan lay on his back with an arm around Tommy, and Tommy lay on his side with his arms wrapped around Logan, and his face was tucked into his neck. This is how the boys usually slept when they stayed the night with each other. It had been that way ever since the beginning. Jude and Connor knew that Logan was a cuddler, and that when Logan was asleep he would grab whatever was within reach to cuddle with, whether it is a pillow, a stuffed animal, his Dads or his best friend.

"Could they get any cuter?" Connor whispered.

In his sleep, Tommy snorted and burrowed his face further into the crook of Logan's neck, and Logan leaned his head to rest against Tommy's.

"Yeah it just did." Jude said with amusement clear in his voice as he flicked the bedroom light on.

The boys weren't fazed, and continued in their slumber. Jude took his phone from his pocket, and immediately snapped several pictures.

"You gonna send me those?" Connor asked.           

"Yeah, got to have back up pics for blackmail, of course." Jude joked.

He approached the bed slowly, almost hating to wake the two of them up. Gently, he reached out and shook Tommy's shoulder. Tommy stirred, and his eyes fluttered open. He sat up slowly, taking care not to disturb his best friend. He stared at the alarm clock, and then back at Jude and Connor. He gently reached out and shook Logan's shoulder, and Logan lurched awake, sitting bolt upright and staring around frantically for a second before calming down and flopping backwards onto the bed.

"Time to get ready for school, buds." Jude said, reaching out to ruffle Logan's shaggy mop of hair.

Logan glared at their retreating back for the ruffling of his hair.

"Come on, we gotta get dressed." Tommy said as he rolled his eyes at his best friend's sulkiness, and ruffled Logan's hair just to annoy him.

"Doooooon't." Logan whined in a sleepily slurred voice, "It already looks bad enough in the morning."

"You know, they invented something a LONG time ago that might help with that." Tommy teased sleepily, "It's called a comb."

Logan glared.

"You're so mean to me." He said dramatically, as he was now awake enough for his snarky side to make a guest appearance, "It really hurts me you know. Hurts right here."

Logan patted his chest dramatically. Tommy laughed at him.

"Whatever you say goofball." Tommy said, "Come on, I'm hungry and we've still got to get our costumes on."

Logan's face lit up at the mention of his costume. While he was unhappy that he still had to go to school on Halloween, he was thrilled that he was at least allowed to wear his costume to school. The two boys had discussed at length what they were going to dress as, and eventually they narrowed it down to Superman and Batman. They then spent a whole week arguing about who was going to Batman and who was going to be Superman. The two boys simply couldn't agree on who would be who, so they enlisted Connor, who settled the argument with a coin toss. In the end, Logan was going to be Batman, and Tommy was going to be Superman.

Twenty minutes later, they stepped out of the bedroom into the hallway in full costume and headed for the kitchen. Jude and Connor observed them with amusement. Both boys had extremely serious expressions on their faces, expressions befitting of the superheroes they portrayed.

"What's for breakfast?" Logan asked, breaking his serious façade at the promise of food.

"I made pancakes." Jude said, sitting said items on the table, where Connor sat with his morning coffee and reading something on a Tablet.

"Do we still have syrup or did you use it all?" Logan asked Jude teasingly.

Connor snorted. That was one thing that had stayed the same throughout the years. Jude always had, and always would, completely drown his pancakes (and waffles) in an absurd amount of syrup. More than once, Connor had made the joke of asking Jude "if he'd like some pancakes with his syrup". Jude's usual reply was to roll his eyes in exasperation, to which Connor would stick his tongue out at him, leading Jude to capture said tongue immediately by way of a kiss.

"Yes, dork, we have syrup… I think." Jude said, before turning to open the fridge to check, "Yep, we do. See?"

Jude sat the syrup on the table and they all sat down to eat, with the boys taking care not get their costumes dirty. They finished eating, and they heard a horn honking from outside.

"That's the bus." Connor said, "Have a nice day, boys. Don't get into too much trouble."

"We won't." Tommy said as he grabbed his backpack.

"Promise. See you later, dads!" Logan called to us as he dragged Tommy out the door to catch the bus.

Jude and Connor immediately shared a look.

"Nap?" Connor guessed.

"I'm right behind you." Jude agreed, and the two men trudged back into their bedroom and crawled back into bed.

**********

The two slept peacefully until noon, when they were awoken once again by Connor's phone spewing the Benny Hill theme because he'd forgot to set it back to its former tone.

"You know, I think I'm just gonna leave it on that." Connor said with a goofy grin, referring to the ringtone, "Nothing like a good laugh first thing in the morning."

Jude rolled his eyes fondly at this husband's dorkiness. The two ventured into the kitchen, and went about making lunch. They were both standing at the counter, when Jude broke the silence.

"So… what are you gonna dress as for tonight?" Jude asked.

"Oh, I just went out and bought a bunch of black leather clothes." Connor said, "I'm gonna go as a rock star, like the ones in the bands my dad used to listen to."

Jude's eye twitched imperceptibly.

 _"Connor… in tight leather clothes?"_ Jude thought to himself, _"Brain… is melting."_

"Jude?"

Jude shook his head clear.

"Huh?"

The look Connor was giving him was absolutely _indecently_ smug.

"Thinking about me in leather, huh?" Connor teased, "You've got a little drool on your chin there."

He reached out and swiped a finger over Jude's chin, clearing the drool that Jude was annoyed to find had actually fallen.

"Oh, be quiet muscle head." Jude snapped with no real heat behind his voice, "You do the same thing with me."

"Never said I didn't." Connor said with a teasing grin, approaching Jude with a swagger until he was nose to nose with him, "I Never have, and never will say it."

He laid a lightning fast kiss to his lips, and backed away to grab his glass of milk from the counter.

"What are you dressing as?"

"1930's gangster." Jude said simply.

"Which looks like…?" Connor prompted.

"Black suit and dress shoes, trench coat and fedora, and an airsoft Tommy-gun." Jude listed.

"You went out and bought an airsoft Thompson submachine gun for a Halloween costume?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, it was only fifty bucks, so why not?"

"Well, isn't that goin' a bit overboard?" Connor asked.

"Remember the first Halloween we were together as a couple? When I went as a Sith?" Jude asked, "THAT was me going overboard."

Connor did indeed remember that first Halloween. It was the first after Jude had been adopted, and the first that Jude had been able to enjoy since going into the foster care system. He started planning it months in advance, due to his excitement. He was obsessed with Star Wars at the time, since it had been announced that Disney was going to be making Star Wars: Episode 7. He wanted to go as a Sith Lord, and Connor came up with the idea of matching costumes, so he was going as a Jedi. His costume was bought online, and his lightsaber was a cheap plastic one with a blue blade that lit up. Since it was his first real Halloween, Stef and Lena had promised Jude free reign on his costume, which they later regretted.

Nearly a hundred fifty dollars later, he made the thing nearly from scratch, and he did a pretty good job. The only thing he was missing was a lightsaber to tie it together. So he went online, and spent every penny he had saved up, all $170 of it, to buy a collectible Black Series FX Darth Vader lightsaber. It arrived two weeks before Halloween, and when Connor arrived that day he found Jude in the backyard of the Adams Foster house swinging it around. By the time Halloween arrived, Jude had even learned how to swing the lightsaber around with some level of skill, which he took delight in showing off to his boyfriend and siblings, who were all supremely amused by his enthusiasm.

When Jude descended the stairs later that night, saber lit, with his hood up and red and yellow colored costume contacts in his eyes, Connor had to admit that he was impressed. Pictures were taken, and Jude was delighted to discover that the blade of the lightsaber looked read when seen through a camera lens. The two spent the rest of the night gallivanting around the neighborhood getting candy, interspersed with a few random mock-duels that Jude easily won.

"Yeah, I remember it very well." Connor said as he shook himself out of his reminiscing, "Do you still have that lightsaber?"

"Yeah, it's in its box in our closet." Jude said with a small smile, "Moms thought I was going crazy when I was making that thing. They thought I was even crazier when I put it on Halloween night and tried to look like I was evil."

"Oh, but you were so cute though." Connor cooed teasingly, "You were my cute little lightsaber wielding homicidal maniac."

Jude snorted, which quickly turned to a fit of giggles.

"Your cute little lightsaber wielding homicidal maniac." Jude quoted laughingly, "Really, babe?"

Connor kissed him on the tip of his nose.

"Yep."

The two lounged around the house until the boys came charging through the front doors three hours later. They sat around until it started to get dark out, and Jude stood from his seat on the couch to head to put his costume on. When he stepped back into the living room in his outfit, Connor wolf whistled and gave him a thumbs up before going to put his own on. He returned ten minutes later, and Jude's jaw unceremoniously graced the floor at the sight of him. Connor was wearing ridiculously tight leather pants that Jude could tell he had trouble getting into, a leather jacket over a Misfits band t-shirt, and a brown wig that went down past his shoulders.

"How do I look?" Connor asked them.

Jude just stared, and Logan and Tommy looked confused. Logan noticed his Dad's jaw had dropped and rolled his eyes, reaching over with two fingers and pushed up on his bottom jaw, shutting it with a click. Jude jolted from his daze and glared at his son, who responded by simply giggling.

"So, what are you guys supposed to be?" Tommy asked.

"Rock star." Connor answered.

"1930's gangster." Jude responded.

Logan and Tommy shared a look, before shrugging and huddling together.

Jude and Connor immediately knew what the two boys were doing. They were plotting their route. After a good few years of honing their technique together, the two had trick or treating down to an art form with near military precision. They knew exactly which house would be handing out the full sized candy bars, and which houses to avoid (the ones handing out fruit). According to Tommy, there was even a house two blocks over that handed out religious pamphlets that "warned of the evils of Halloween". He recommended they avoid that house at all costs, because Jude and Connor would most likely lose their tempers at the owners of the house for trying to ruin Halloween for children. Once the route was planned and presented to Jude and Connor, there was only one thing left to do.

"You two ready?" Jude asked.

Both boys' response was to leap about the room enthusiastically until Jude and Connor grabbed a pair of pillow cases and ushered them out of the house.

For the next couple of hours, the two men were dragged around the neighborhood by the two children as they gallivanted around the place in their quest for free candy. The two boys marched from house to house with large smiles splitting their faces, pulling the two laughing adults behind them. The two chuckled at the boys' enthusiasm and took care to follow the route that the boys had planned. They both found it amusing that the boys took it so seriously. Whatever methods they had paid off, however, when the four of them trudge through the door of the house two hours later with two pillow cases filled to the brim with various candies. Jude and Connor plopped onto the couch exhausted, while the boys disappeared into Logan's room to sift through their haul and trade what they didn't want.

Jude removed his coat and threw it across the room, not caring in the slightest that it lay on the floor in the entryway to the kitchen. The two shared a look.

"Think they can manage to get to bed on their own?" Jude asked, "Cause our bed seems very welcoming right now."

"Yeah, they can." Connor responded tiredly, "I need to get out of these clothes. These leather pants are so tight, I think they're cutting off circulation to my legs."

The two rose from the couch and headed for their room, stopping by Logan's room to tell him to be in bed by 10:00 pm. They started undressing as soon as the door closed, with Connor depositing the leather pants in the trash can opposite their dresser. Jude shot him a questioning look.

"I am never wearing those again." Connor deadpanned, "They are uncomfortable as all hell. I might burn them, I haven't decided yet."

Jude snorted.

"You are such a drama queen." He teased.

Connor, being a mature grown man and father, knew he should have endeavored to respond to his husband's teasing in a mature way befitting of his age. Of course, being Connor, he decided that sticking his tongue out was a perfectly acceptable alternative, and did so immediately, which resulted in Jude capturing said tongue in a short kiss before dragging Connor into the bed to snuggle. As the two spooned under the covers, with Connor wrapping his arms around his beloved and giving a content sigh.

"I'm gonna miss days like this when they're gone." Connor said.

"What do you mean?" Jude asked.

"When Logan gets older, and inevitably decides he's too old for this kind of thing." Connor clarified.

"We've got years before that happens though." Jude reminded him softly, "He's only eight, baby. We've still got plenty of time."

"I know, it's just… he's growing up so fast, ya know?" Connor said, "It feels like yesterday that we were sitting in Jack's office, and he was telling us how he was looking for a couple willing to adopt a newborn. And now he's _eight._ "

"Ugh, you're making me feel old." Jude said jokingly, "But I know what you mean. It's surreal sometimes to believe that we've been a couple for twenty one years, let alone that our baby boy is eight years old."

"Haha, yeah." Connor giggled, pressing a light kiss to the back of Jude's skull, right at the base of his neck, "I got so lucky with you, you know that?"

"Yeah, but I never get tired of hearing you say it." Jude said with a small smile.

**************

Meanwhile, with Logan and Tommy, delicate negotiations were taking place. The object of their negotiations? Candy. The two boys stared at each other intently through narrowed eyes, waiting for the other to make a move, as they had been for the past half hour. They sat on the floor of Logan's room, a huge mound of candy to each side of them.

"I'll trade you a king-sized Butterfingers for four of your Tootsie rolls." Tommy finally stated.

"Deal." Logan agreed and collected his bounty, "I still don't see how you can't like Butterfingers. They're the best."

"I just don't." Tommy said, "The only candy I like with peanut butter in it are Reese cups. I've always liked the fruity candies anyway. Like Laffy Taffy, and Jolly Ranchers… oh, do you have any of those?"

"Got a few, yeah." Logan said and handed him a handful of Jolly Ranchers and a few Laffy Taffies , "Here, take 'em. Don't like Jolly Ranchers that much."

"Why not?" Tommy asked.

"I broke my tooth on one once." Logan said with a shudder, "Had to go to the dentist and get it pulled. It sucked."

Logan wrinkled his nose in disgust at the memory, and Tommy shuddered. Both boys shared a mutual hatred of the dentist's office.

It didn't take them long to finish trading their candy, and the two boys started to feel the fatigue of their long day. Logan was the first to yawn, and Tommy took immediate notice.

"Tired?" He asked.

"Yeah. Long day."

"Yeah, me too." Tommy admitted, "Let's go to bed. We still have school tomorrow."

Logan nodded his agreement, and the two boys removed their costumes and slipped into their pajamas before crawling underneath the covers of the bed. The two stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before the comfortable silence was broken.

"Tommy?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming with us tonight." Logan said softly.

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it." Tommy said, his tone equally soft, "Halloween wouldn't be fun without you."

"It wouldn't be without you either." Logan said, "I'm really glad you're my best friend, Tommy."

"So am I." Tommy said with a small smile, lifting his fist into the air, "Friends forever, right?"

Logan smiled and lifted his own fist to bump against Tommy's.

"Yeah. Forever. That's a promise."

As the two boys slowly drifted off to sleep side by side, they both knew that it was one promise they would both fight to keep.


End file.
